Catt Sadler, an anchor for E! News and the Daily Pop, announced she would be leaving the network back in December due to unequal pay. Sadler learned, after almost 12 years of working for the network, her co host, Jason Kennedy, made double her salary for years.

Finding out this news was a shock to me because I spent a large part of my prepubescent and adolescent years watching Sadler and Kennedy give the rundown on any and everything pop culture. They seemed like a dream team. Every night, when my parents watched the 7 o’clock news, I settled in to watch E! News.

I couldn’t imagine that at a network like E!, one catering so heavily to women, there could be such a blatant disregard for the needs of the women in their workforce. It is absolutely bizarre to me that in these “high-profile” and very visible jobs where Sadler and Kennedy do the same type of work that any sort of disparity could exist.

This knowledge has tainted the way that I view the network. Now, when I happen to stumble upon E! News while flipping through the channels, I can’t help but wonder how much the female employees are making compared to their male counterparts.

Unfortunately, the wage gap is a reality that affects women in virtually every occupation and it affects them before they even enter the workforce. Discrimination whether through sexist ideals, sexual harassment, or socioeconomic disadvantages, continues to perpetuate this unfair treatment of women in the workforce.

Moreover, the wage gap itself is not equal, becoming even more staggered when factors such as race, sexuality and socioeconomic status are taken into account. According to the National Women’s Law Center, women in the U.S. on average make 80 cents for every dollar their white, non-Hispanic counterparts make, with Asian women making 87 cents for every dollar, black women making 63 cents, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women making 59 cents, Native American women making 57 cents and Latinas making 54 cents.

Here are a few reasons why the wage gap persists:

1) Women are less likely to be hired, especially for high wage jobs.

Women in the workforce face a hurdle that their white, non-hispanic male counterparts don’t, concerning their perceived capability. In general, women are not seen as equally competent for certain jobs. The reality is, women are not highly represented in top positions in the workforce and most face the obstacle of breaking into male dominated fields. Consequently, that factor, combined with implicit bias, is a barrier to entry that makes women seem less employable than their male counterparts.

2) Women are often given more administrative tasks at work such as taking notes, ordering lunches, sorting travel plans, etc...

The archetype of women taking care of the household and being neat, tidy homemakers, has followed them into the workplace. Bosses and workers in leadership positions tend to ask female coworkers to do more administrative tasks because they are seen as better suited to female capabilities. So, since women are stuck with these menial tasks in addition to their actual work, it makes them less capable of accessing higher level work and in a sense, rationalizes lesser pay, since they seemingly fail to provide the level of work as their male counterparts. Moreover, if they fail to do these tasks they are seen as uncooperative and not a part of the team. Unfortunately, it’s not that women can’t do kickass work, it’s that they are given so many menial errands that they don’t have time to do all of that plus their regular office work. They end up working extra hours and giving up bits of their time for ridiculous errands instead of doing the job they signed up to do.

3) In some cases, women are also seen as potential liabilities because of maternity leave.

Since women are viewed as nurturers, producers and homemakers, when employers assess female candidates some take into account their potential for maternity leave as if it’s an inconvenience for the company if someone chooses to procreate or start a family.

(In general, I think men and women should get the option of having paid maternity and paternity leave because 1. Children are expensive and 2. Parents should have the ability to spend time with their children without risk of losing their job or having to prioritize money over experiencing crucial beginning months of child rearing together but that’s an article for another day).

4) Women face significant obstacles when trying to reach for higher level positions or entering male dominated fields.

As the saying goes, at least right now, it is a man’s world and while many women are trying to combat the sexist, misogynistic ideals that crafted this world, they still affect us in many ways, including perpetuating the wage gap. Women face sexual harassment, obstacles within higher education and other forms of discrimination that are too numerous and complex to list. Needless to say, these experiences and obstacles prevent women from seeking higher-level or even being able to seek these positions in the first place.

5) Fathers are breadwinners and mothers are simply laborers.

Another shocking reason behind the wage gap is the notion the men need to be paid more since they are the perceived heads of the household: the breadwinners. Consequently, since female laborers apparently should have a male counterpart to support their household, there is no need to pay them more. Now, does that seem just as ridiculous to you as it does to me? In what scenario would paying someone less benefit anyone’s household??? Additionally, there is clearly something fundamentally wrong with this thinking. If we live in a society where everyone is purportedly equal, then there is no grounds for this argument and it shouldn’t be taken into consideration, but unfortunately, this form of discrimination still contributes to women being paid less, receiving less or no benefits, and not having their work seen as valuable.

Here are a few practices that perpetuate the wage gap in the workplace:

1) Employers asking for salary history during salary negotiations.

Since women are historically paid less, there is a great chance that by asking a prospective female employee for salary history, employers can use this to get away with paying them less or giving them fewer benefits than their male counterparts. For example, a prospective employee may have made $20,000 a year at a previous job. The job they applied for really should pay someone in that position $40,000 a year but because the employer knows the individual only made $20,000 at their previous job, they might offer them $30,000 instead of $40,000. To the prospective employee it’s an upgrade but in reality it’s not.

2) Coworkers are not allowed to discuss how much they make.

How do you know if you’re underpaid if you can’t ask? Usually, as in Sadler’s case, women can go years without even knowing they are being paid less than their male colleagues because they are unable to ask. Women do feel like they are being underpaid but since there’s no way to know for sure, they just accept the salary they’re given so it doesn’t make them look unprofessional or uncooperative in the workplace. Especially if that women is working in a male dominated field where she faces other forms of discrimination that undermines her ability to progress in that environment.

3) Titling and being paid for equivalent jobs rather than based on roles or the type of work you do.

Job titles can often be misleading. Someone can be a retail sales associate while performing the roles of a supervisor. However, due to discrepancies in titling, they are paid less while taking on more taxing/upper level roles. Additionally, incorrect titling doesn’t look at the intersection of roles. A teacher could perform the same roles as a department head but they don’t receive the same compensation. Jobs often look at titles instead of the tasks that the individual performs that justifies giving them more or less money than someone else. Moreover, work done by women is not as valued. Individuals in female dominated professions like child-care or social work are paid less while individuals in male dominated professions like STEM or business are paid more.

How do we fix this?

1) Facilitate discussion in the workplace between colleagues.

Allowing employees to discuss what they make can enable women to pinpoint whether or not they are being underpaid.

2) Prevent salary history from being used.

Let the employer pay the prospective employee what they would have without knowing this information.

3) Don’t base pay so stringently on titling and try to understand what the title itself means.

Instead, companies should really look at the roles each of their jobs entails and try to understand why they pay that individual the salary they do.

4) Have more companies provide daycare services for their employees.

Regardless of an individual’s gender identity or sexuality, they should not be discriminated against because they chose to start a family. Parents in general should be able to be more involved in their kids lives without that jeopardizing their pay or chances of getting a job.

5) Advocate for yourself!!!

It is time for women to really evaluate what they bring to the table in their prospective profession and work on negotiating for better pay, better benefits and better roles. Understand what assets you have to offer and don’t accept less than what you deserve in a job. Laws and policies can only get us so far, but we need to start taking those protections and putting them to use through actively advocating for ourselves in the workplace and asking for the pay we deserve. Don’t be shy about asking for a raise or asking for more money during salary negotiations. I know that most of the time, you’re just happy to have a job, but your job should be just as grateful to have you because the work done by women in the workforce is valuable. Period.

If you want to be more informed on how to confront the wage gap in your own profession or how to better advocate for yourself at work or about any aspect of the wage gap, I definitely encourage you to do some more research. Regardless of your social identity, I encourage to work to confront this issue because in order for this to be confronted, it takes the work of those in power as well as those who experience it, to work together to actively find a solution.