Did anyone think otherwise?

Women, yet again, get the shitty end of the stick. New figures estimate that it takes women 16 years to pay off their educational debt, while it only takes men 11 years. I wonder why.

Women take longer to pay off bills because of the pay gap – estimated to be up to 20% – and because they are more likely to take time out to look after children.

But…I think it has more to do with the pay gap. Of course becoming a stay-at-home-mother might have a little to do with it, but these women, in the UK at least, get paid maternity leave.

Kat Stark, the women’s officer for the National Union of Students, retaliated about the notion that women are taking longer to pay their debt because they are taking time off to have children, by saying,

Women are taking longer than men to pay off their student loans because they are paid less, not because they are taking time off to have children. Within three years of graduating, over 40% of men are earning over £25,000, compared to just over a quarter of women. The pay gap is not a new problem – the government knew when it introduced the tuition fees system that female graduates would end up saddled with debt to a worse extent than their male counterparts. In the run-up to the 2009 review of higher education funding, the government should consider whether they wish to perpetuate this injustice.

Of course, others said that employers give equal pay, based on education and skills. But it’s no secret that the pay gap is still very much a part of our society. Either way, this is just one more thing to add to the “Crappy Situations for Women” list.