A shocking, to some, study [pdf] came out last month in the Journal of Applied Psychology concluding that men who hold sexist ideals make more money than anyone else. So what does this mean to us working girls and the good guys out there?

For one it says that the workforce is still rewarding men for outdated attitudes. It is an indicator that the outdated model our workforce operates under rewards those who play the game according to the rules. This report also proves that wage gaps are not just an outcome for women’s poor decisions. You know, taking time off to care for children or other such frivolous things that signal to supervisors that you aren’t serious about your job. It puts a nail in the coffin of meritocracy. Yes, we should all continue to work our hardest, but never again should we allow someone (paging Senator McCain) tell us that hard work and being the best is the way that people rise to the top.

But most importantly this report tells us that legislation like the Equal Pay Act will only take us so far in the quest for equality and fairness.

The authors state in a section called Practical Implications that:

Parents, educators, employers, and media reinforce social norms and mores; given the results observed here, these groups should carefully attend to the values and attitudes that are communicated through messages, policies, and behavior.

In other words, if we, as a society, want fairness in pay and stature, we need to walk the walk AND talk the talk. No more “girls do this…” and no more “boys are better at…” The media has been focused on the idea that sexist men make more money, but the real issue at hand is how we are raising our children to believe that men should earn more to take care of his family. There is still a feeling that if women work it is her choice, but men don’t have one. This type of thinking makes women’s work seem secondary, that we do it because we want to, not because we need to. It also undermines women’s desire to work, to do good in this world, or to conquer a field.

As much as I will advocate for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act to be passed and signed into law, laws like this won’t bring us to fair pay, equal pay for equal work or equal pay for comparable work. It’ll bring us closer, but it can’t close that last gap.

We can scoff and point our fingers at these sexist men who earn more than anyone else, but we need to point that finger back at us and ask what are we doing to continue this vicious cycle. We need to look at the way we raise our kids, what our children’s teachers show them, screen media messages as much as possible and intervene when sexism raises it’s ugly head.

Have you ever been paid less for the same work? What did you do? How did you find out?

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