I was interested in looking into how gender stereotypes affect the gender pay gap. Before doing my research I believed that gender stereotypes negatively affected the gender pay gap and this belief was confirmed after completing my research. I found numerous articles and research papers that stated how due to there being a low amount of women in high-paying jobs, such as STEM jobs, many women are discouraged from entering these fields. Additionally, many women don’t believe that they are assertive enough or have enough leadership skills in many of their fields compared to men. These are all likely caused by historical gender stereotypes in which men were the primary breadwinners in the families and were seen in the media as the money makers while the women were the primary homemakers. In the US, women weren’t a part of the workforce until after World War II when they had to take over many of the jobs left by men. This shows how history has continued to affect the way men and women view themselves in the workforce. Another fact that I found interesting in my research was that many women who have had kids opt for more flexible jobs rather than high-paying jobs as they believe that they have to be the ones primarily responsible for raising their kids. Overall, I found that gender stereotypes have affected the way that women view themselves in society which has affected the kinds of jobs they want. As a result, women aren’t able to earn as much as men on average and this is likely the reason why women earn an average of 82 cents for every dollar made by a man in the US. To conclude, this research allowed me to further understand what causes the gender pay gap and how education to discourage stereotypes can encourage women to enter high-paying fields that have been historically dominated by men.