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In the modern world, women's labor continues to be systematically undervalued. Despite equal (and often higher) levels of education, qualifications, and contributions to society, women on average earn significantly less than men for comparable work. This disparity is not accidental—it is deeply embedded in the economy, culture, and traditions of most countries.
Our project is taking a step toward justice: we offer women a 50% discount on Burn.city. This is not just a marketing gimmick, nor is it "reverse gender discrimination." It is a partial compensation for what women have been underpaid for decades in the labor market.
The global gender pay gap remains significant even in 2025–2026.
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According to various sources for 2024–2025, women worldwide earn on average 83–85 cents for every dollar men earn (Pew Research, Statista, EqualPayToday, and others).
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In the United States, women earn about 83–85% of men's wages (2024–2025 data from Pew Research Center and BLS, with recent figures showing around 83–85 cents on the dollar for full-time workers).
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In the European Union, the average gap in 2023–2025 stands at about 12% based on hourly pay, though it reaches 20–25% in some countries (Eurostat and OECD data).
Here is a clear overview of the top 20 countries with the largest gender pay gaps (unadjusted, based on median earnings of full-time workers; women earn X% less than men). Data draws from the latest available OECD reports (2022–2024 with 2025 updates), EqualPayToday 2026, Visual Capitalist, and other reliable sources:
| Rank | Country/Region | Gender Pay Gap (%) | Year / Source Notes | Key Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Korea | 31.2 | OECD 2022–2025, EqualPayToday 2026 | Largest in OECD/developed world |
| 2 | Israel | ~25 | OECD 2022–2025 (updated ~20.8–25%) | Persistently high |
| 3 | Indonesia | ~23 | UN Women/ILO/World Bank-aligned 2020–2025 | Significant in Southeast Asia; varies by sector |
| 4 | Latvia | 19–25 | OECD/Eurostat 2023–2025 | Highest in the EU |
| 5 | Japan | 21.3 | OECD 2022–2025 | Stable high gap |
| 6 | Cyprus | ~20–21 | OECD/Eurostat 2023–2025 | High within EU |
| 7 | Estonia | 17–20 | OECD/EU 2023–2025 | Notable in Baltics |
| 8 | Austria | ~17–19 | EU/OECD 2024–2025 | |
| 9 | Germany | 16–18 | Destatis/EU/OECD 2024–2025 | Among higher in Western Europe |
| 10 | Hungary | >17 | EU/OECD 2024–2025 | |
| 11 | Canada | ~17 | OECD 2022–2025 | |
| 12 | Mexico | ~16–17 | OECD 2022–2025 | |
| 13 | United States | 15–17 | Pew/BLS/OECD 2024–2025 (~83–85 cents) | Around 83–85% ratio |
| 14 | Italy | 15–18 | Eurostat/OECD 2023–2025 | |
| 15 | United Kingdom | 14–17 | UK/OECD 2024–2025 | |
| 16 | France | 13–15 | OECD/EU 2024–2025 | |
| 17 | Australia | ~13 | OECD 2023–2025 | |
| 18 | Netherlands | 10–14 | OECD 2023–2025 | |
| 19 | Sweden | 5–10 | OECD/Nordic 2024–2025 | Among the lowest |
| 20 | Belgium | ~1–5 | OECD/EU 2024–2025 | Near parity |
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Why 50% when the average pay gap is ~18%?
- Because the tech sector needs urgent acceleration—and women are the missing multiplier.
- Globally, women earn about 83 cents for every dollar men earn—an average unadjusted gender pay gap of around 17–18% (EqualPayToday 2026, OECD 2025 averages). Yet in the tech and innovation ecosystem—the very engine driving us toward Type I civilization—the underrepresentation is far more acute.
- Women make up only 24–28% of the global tech/STEM workforce in 2025 (WomenTech Network, Lemon.io, CompTIA State of the Tech Workforce 2025, Society of Women Engineers). In core computing, engineering, and software roles, the figure often drops to 24–26%. This isn't just unfair—it's inefficient. Tech desperately needs more diverse talent to solve planetary-scale problems: AI alignment, energy mastery, existential risk mitigation, and cross-disciplinary breakthroughs.
- At major tech conferences and events, the gender imbalance is stark: women typically comprise only 20–35% of attendees and speakers (e.g., ~32.6% female speakers at major tech events in 2024–2025 data from Pomona Partners and similar audits; many general tech gatherings hover closer to 20–30% female participation). The classic 80/20 male-to-female split persists in many spaces, reinforcing barriers and myths that tech is "male-coded," overly complex, or unwelcoming.
- At burn.city, we reject that narrative.
- Among women, there are already vast reserves of scientific and technological talent: women earn ~35–36% of STEM degrees globally (UNESCO, various 2025 reports), represent ~27–30% of the broader STEM workforce in many regions, and excel in fields like biotechnology, health sciences, and emerging interdisciplinary areas. History and the present are full of trailblazing women—Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, Hedy Lamarr, Katherine Johnson—who pioneered breakthroughs that shaped the modern world. And today, we see brilliant living examples: Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, the theoretical physicist dubbed the "next Einstein" for her independent work on quantum gravity and holography (she built her own airplane at 14, graduated top of MIT, and was cited by Stephen Hawking); and Anita Williams Woolley, whose research at Carnegie Mellon demonstrated that collective intelligence in groups rises significantly with greater female participation—because teams with more women show higher social sensitivity, better collaboration, and superior problem-solving on complex tasks (as shown in her influential 2010 studies published in Science and PNAS).
- The talent exists; the welcoming, high-leverage environment often doesn't.
- We are building exactly that environment at burn.city: a space for comfortable, fearless creativity, amplified by cross-disciplinary tools and existential questions that define our era (AI safety, long-termism, civilizational resilience, abundance engineering). We're especially interested in women who are driven to explore the new, the uncertain, and the potentially highly rewarding—those ready to turn rational thinking into scalable impact.
- After all, agree with us: the scientific method and a rational mindset have never bankrupted anyone—in fact, they've done quite the opposite.
- Our 50% discount for women is bold by design: it's not just closing an 18% gap—it's overcorrecting to create massive incentive, lower barriers to entry, and signal that burn.city is serious about accelerating female participation in the tech redesign of civilization. More women in the room means faster progress toward Type I.
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Conclusion
- In Cyberia, we refuse to inherit the fractured, inefficient civilization we've been handed. To ascend to Type I—a planetary-scale society that commands the full energy budget of Earth, eliminates waste, and unites humanity in pursuit of cosmic potential—we must first redesign the foundations. No civilization reaches Type I while half its talent pool is systematically undervalued, underpaid, and overburdened with invisible labor.
- The gender pay gap is a massive drag on collective progress. It wastes human capital, slows innovation, perpetuates inequality cycles, and fragments the very cooperation needed for planetary mastery. Every dollar (or ruble, or euro) denied to women is energy not invested in education, invention, health, and resilience—the exact resources a Type I civilization demands.
- In Cyberia, we start the redesign now—one tangible act at a time.
- If you’re a woman: claim the discount. You’re not receiving charity—you’re reclaiming fuel for the ascent. If you’re anyone else: support it. A stronger half accelerates the whole.
- Type I isn’t a distant dream; it’s the logical endpoint of deliberate optimization. Gender equity is optimization. This discount is optimization.
- Join the redesign.