I've literally never seen an example of a male and a female with the exact same job having anything but the same pay rate. Not in this country, anyway?
Also, in 2 years time my wife will be earning more than I do, and in 10 years time she is likely to be earning
significantly more than I do
.
Though to be fair, that's largely because I'm "lucky" enough to be in a job that is flexible and where getting the hours in over evenings / weekends is possible, which is what has made it possible for her to go back to university and me to be home during the day on weekdays for the kids. She stayed home for the first 6 years after our eldest was born and I worked and, if I had been in, say, a 9-5 work pattern then I can't see how it would have been possible for us to orchestrate her new career or for her to do anything at all other than casual work. So I can see how it happens and how it's a problem.
Then again our circumstances are slightly different in that with the youngest's additional needs, "normal" childcare options aren't available to us, when she's not in school she really needs to be with one of us 99% of the time. Though she can now be looked after by other family for a few hours so that we can have a life [emoji23]... But we don't have family close enough by for it to be anything more than occasional babysitting, and even if we did, it wouldn't really work for her.
But yeah tl;dr I can fully appreciate that my wife would have been "trapped" in no employment / casual min wage employment and totally unable to develop a career if I hadn't been in a job that has abundant available "antisocial hours" that no one minds me hoovering up, because no one is like "HEY how come you get to work until half 10 every Saturday? I wanted that shift!"...
... Stupid job... Stupid work... I'mma quit as soon as I get her out earning I think...