ABSTRACT
Despite decades of activism and legal mandates, wage studies continue to report that women earn less than men. Surveys have documented this even for professionals; data published by the U.S. Census Bureau
5 (2000) show discrepancies between the 1998 incomes of men and women with professional degrees ($76,362 vs. $43,490 per annum) and doctoral degrees ($65,311 vs. $46,275). A nationwide "Fee, Practice, and Managed Care Survey" (2000) of private practice mental
10 health clinicians reported that female psychologists earned 78% of the income of male psychologists. They suggested that one reason for the gender gap in income across all mental health professionals is that men charge their self-pay clients more. In another study,
15 Sentell, Pingitore, Scheffler, Schwalm, and Haley (2001) analyzed the practices of members of the California Psychological Association and reported a difference in the median salary of full-time male and female psychologists ($80,000 vs. $62,000). They stated that
20 men's incomes were increased by having more self-pay clients. However, overall they found few differences between genders, and they thought there may have been differences in practices that were not revealed in their study.
