Pricing note
Starting market value
Why the two scoring tracks begin at different prices.
The appraisal begins with a base price before any personal answer is added. The male track starts at $660,000 and the female track starts at $542,000.
The gap follows the ratio between women’s and men’s median weekly earnings among full-time wage and salary workers. It prices the earnings difference over a working life, then lets every other answer move the total up or down.
Score: male track +$660,000; female track +$542,000.
Why earnings differ
Hours worked, occupation, experience, industry, job risk, time out of the workforce, negotiation, and discrimination can all affect the aggregate gap. The calculator is not deciding which explanation wins; it uses the published market outcome as its opening bid.
Warren Farrell’s Why Men Earn More argues that longer hours, dangerous or disagreeable work, night shifts, relocation, and degree choice account for part of the difference. Other labor research finds that those choices do not explain the entire gap. Either way, the market result is measurable, and that is what this starting value represents.