Ariane Hegewisch, a study director for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research with a particular eye on the pay gap says that in addition to the old boy’s club of the financial services industry, there are some cultural distinctions in Connecticut that play into the massive divide between men and women’s earnings in the state. “Connecticut has a high wage gap overall,” she says, “There are some traditional gender distributions at play.” She explains that better off women with highly-compensated partners often tend to work part-time or in lower earning jobs by choice rather than out of necessity.