The wage gap between men and women doesn’t exist. The methods used to calculate the ever-famous, “For every dollar a man makes, a woman makes seventy-seven cents,” are inaccurate. There is no denying discrimination against women in the workplace exists, but the wage gap is an exaggeration which diverts attention from real problems.

The wage gap myth can be attributed to President Obama’s 2013 state of the union speech in which he says, “Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment.” Although this gap is, in fact, the average earnings of all men and all women working full time, it does not account for; difference in occupations, positions, education, job tenure (how long have they had that job), or hours worked per week. After taking these into account the wage gap narrows to around 5 cents.

Women simply work less. The wage gap increases during a women’s 20s and 30s but starts to shrink right after. This can easily be explained by a single element, children. During this time women take their maternity leaves, decide to spend less time at work, are more likely to refuse to stay after hours, and are prone to claim their days off. Which in turn causes women to be paid less for the same job.

Pew Research Center conducted a survey which showed that women do more when taking care of a child, it also implied that even though stay at home fathers are rapidly increasing, both men and women believe its better for children to be raised by a mother. Pamela Stone’s journal titled “Fast-Track Women and the “Choice” to Stay Home” strengthens this since it implies women choose to take care of their children, even if this means leaving their job.

Even if some still insist saying that women earn two-thirds of what men earn for equal work, there is a single argument that shreds it apart; Women choose worst paying majors. According to American Enterprise Institute and Harvard Business Reviews, while men dominate nine of the ten highest paying college majors, women dominate nine of the ten least paying college majors.

The current wage gap can be narrowed to the point of disappearing taking into consideration occupations, positions, education, job tenure, and hours worked per week. Focusing on dead problems diverts us from the truth, it’s a woman’s choice on how much she earns.