A majority of American women and men agree that there is a gender pay gap, and most blame employer’s assumptions about women’s attitudes toward work and family for its existence, according to new poll data released today by the American Association of University Women to mark Equal Pay Day 2005.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women, on average, earned 24 percent less than men did in 2004. And women of color saw an even greater difference – Asian women earned 20 percent less, black women earned 34 percent less, and Latinas earned 45 percent less than did men as a whole.