Ironically, although women are making less, they’re more educated than ever. About 36% of women ages 25 to 34 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to data from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research . For men in the same age range, the number is 28%. “The trend seems to be that younger women are considerably more likely than younger men to go to college and get a degree,” says Cynthia Hess, IWPR’s study director. But in every state except for one (New York), younger women earn less than younger men.
One thing to remember, of course, is that where there are women, there are often children. One of the things IWPR researchers noticed was that although Millennial women are more highly educated than men, they also have a much higher poverty rate. “That is likely due to the fact that Millennial women are of childbearing age, and some are supporting children on their own,” Hess says. “So that makes it more difficult to achieve economic security.”