A new U.S. Census Bureau Report reveals that legal occupations are among the most lucrative careers in the U.S. The study also reveals that a significant gender pay disparity still exists in the legal industry.
The study reports that, of 26 occupation groups, men in legal occupations earned the highest salaries, with a median salary in 2007 of $105,233. Women in legal occupations earned a median salary of $53,790, ranking near the top of women's earnings for all occupations but earning a mere fifty-one percent of men in legal occupations. Women lawyers fared slightly better, earning a median of $93,600, a salary that was 77.8 percent of male lawyers’ earnings of $120,000.
The salary gap was smallest among paralegals and legal assistants: female paralegals and legal assistants earned a median of $42,600 which was 93.2 percent of the $45,700 median that men earned.
The income disparity was greatest among judges, magistrates and other judicial workers, with women earning about 64 percent of mens’ salaries at an estimated $69,500, compared with the median of $108,100 earned by males.
The Census report confirms what most of us already knew. Employees in the legal industry reap higher earnings than the average U.S. worker ($105,233 versus $44,627). However, women in the legal profession earn far less than their male colleagues.
May we say that this disparity connotes gender or sex-based discrimination in the legal profession? Because if it is so, then that would be the greatest irony of all.
We advocate anti-discrimination laws – but there is discrimination in our midst. What a sad sad picture. Just thinking out loud.
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Unfortunatley, gender pay disparity exists in almost every industry sector, according to the Census Bureau Report. But you are right, the legal profession should do more to eliminate, not perpetuate, differences in pay between the genders.
Sally A. Kane
About.com Guide to Legal Careers