It's more complex than women earning 79 cents for every dollar a man makes. When there is talk about the gender wage gap, often the statistic heard is, “Women earn 79 cents for every dollar a man makes.” While this is factually correct, it does not encompass the nuances of the wage gap. The answer is in the complexity of this problem. Career types and child-rearing duties are both in the equation to closing the gender wage gap.