TABLE 27 illustrates the 1980 earning power of women of various ages and different educational backgrounds (income of all full-time, full-year workers) relative to the average men's salary.

Although comparable data are not available for other years, it is important to note that:

• In 1980. only women in the age 45+ group who have attended university earned more than the "average male" worker (i.e.. the amount earned by men 25+ with no university education).
  
  
• While poorly educated men (i.e., men 25+ with less than Grade 9 education) earned 81% of the average male wage, only women with university education earned a similar amount.
  
  
• While FIGURE 26 indicates that education has little effect on the size of the earnings gap, TABLE 27 suggests that age does have a strong effect, across all education levels.
  
  Young women (age 15 - 24) earn only slightly less than young men at each education level; women age 25-44 earn about two-thirds of what their male counterparts earn; women age 45-64 earn about half.

Since these data do not represent the same women at various ages, the interpretation of these findings is fairly complex. It is likely that older women, as compared to younger women. have lower salaries relative to their male counterparts for a number of interacting reasons. These are elaborated by Boulet and Lavallee:

• Older women are more likely than younger women to be re-entrants to the labor force. Thus, older women may earn less than older men, in part because they have fewer years of service, than men, and related to this, because these women do not occupy as many senior positions as men.
  
  
• Older women are more likely than younger women to be employed in traditionally women's occupations - occupations which pay less than comparable men's occupations.
  
  
• This discussion. which speculates on possible reasons for the difference in the size of the wage gap between younger versus older women and between women and men, should in no way be taken to minimize the fact that, when all of these factors have been taken into account, women are simply paid less than men for comparably valuable work.

It has been customary to attribute a large proportion of the wage differential between women and men to gender. Boulet and Lavallee indicate that, when their four factors are taken into account, only a small percentage of the wage gap can be attributed to gender.

While this seems to be a sign of progress, it is essential to point out that the reasons they cite (e.g., fewer hours worked, confinement to a narrow range of jobs, etc.), are themselves related to gender.