I can only speak for my own experience. The institution I work for has a very specific pay scale that on the surface demands men and women are paid the same rate of pay for the same job. However, when you dig deeper you find men often start their employment on a higher point on the scale than women being employed in the same job. The only way you find out about such things is through informal conversations and it’s very difficult to definitely say ‘women aren’t being treated equally’.
Similarly, more men occupy managerial positions but is that because less women are capable of doing those higher level jobs? I doubt it. Why does this happen? I can only assume that’s it’s because more men occupy those hierarchical positions and so have greater influence over who is following behind them. I don’t actually think it’s deliberate. I think it’s something that is inherent in organizational culture, or in some organizational cultures.
I also think there are disparities in workloads. I see many women working much harder than men in comparable positions. So women are not only paid less, but they’re working harder for that money.