While the gender pay gap has narrowed slightly over the last two decades, pay disparities still persist across nearly every industry in the United States for women in 2025. A recent analysis by High Rise Financial, a pre-settlement legal funding provider, captured just how deeply rooted and widespread these disparities remain for women in the U.S., no matter what sector or position.
There are pay disparities as high as 25% in some sectors.
According to Pew Research, in 2024, women earned approximately 85 cents for every dollar earned by men, based on the average hourly wages of both full-time and part-time workers. While that marks a modest improvement from 2003—when women made just 81 cents to the dollar—the gender pay gap remains a persistent issue. Despite some progress, significant wage disparities continue to exist across many industries, highlighting that true pay equity is still out of reach for many women.
High Rise Financial found that finance, insurance, and transportation had wide pay gaps burdening female workers. The findings revealed that women in finance and insurance earn only 77 cents for every dollar men earn, and in management roles, the disparity can widen to 28%.
Even in industries where women make up the majority of the workforce, such as healthcare (76%) and nonprofits (65%), pay gaps remain. Women in healthcare earn just 86 cents per dollar earned by men, and in nonprofits, that figure is 88 cents.
Notably, Black and Native American women saw modest improvements, with their pay gap in 2023, reducing by just 5 cents compared to previous years across sectors. But this isn’t the time to celebrate. The data shows clearly that women not only have to break through the glass ceiling, but they’re often paid significantly less once they do.
Working Mothers Hit Especially Hard
The situation becomes even more stark for working mothers, who earn just 75 cents on the dollar compared to working fathers, according to the study. High Rise Financial said that the stark pay gap for working moms could be due to misconceptions around caregiving responsibilities, workplace bias, and outdated assumptions about parental roles, which ultimately impact women’s earnings.
Their perspective is absolutely valid. A 2022 Pew Research Center study identified unequal treatment by employers as one of the main drivers of the gender pay gap, with a smaller percentage of respondents citing factors like women making different choices to balance work and family (42%) or working in lower-paying jobs (34%).
By 2024, those pressures were still deeply felt. Pew Research found that nearly half of employed women (48%) reported feeling significant pressure to manage responsibilities at home, compared to just 35% of employed men. Among parents with children under 18, the gap was even wider: 67% of working mothers said they felt this pressure, versus only 45% of working fathers.
These reasons often reflect broader systemic pressures that prevent working moms from being compensated fairly. Thankfully, awareness is growing. According to High Rise Financial, gender discrimination cases have risen 12% over the past year, marking the highest number of cases recorded in a decade. As more women speak out about unequal treatment—from being talked over or having their ideas credited to others—employers are under increasing pressure to act.
“The pay gap is not a myth,” said a representative from High Rise Financial. “We see the financial consequences every day for women facing discrimination in the workplace.”
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