By Donna Borak, UPI Business Correspondent

Women, on the other hand, are security seekers. They seek professions, which offer flexibility with minimal risk. They want more fulfilling careers that allow them to maintain balance in their lives and offer them time to take care of their children, he says.

Farrell notes, however, that while men are earning higher paychecks making personal sacrifices, women end up paying an economic price for seeking fulfillment and flexible jobs.

"Men have been trained for thousands of years not to do what t hey love, but what makes money," said Farrell in a telephone interview with United Press International. "Men don't want to be engineers more than they wanted to be teachers of social sciences. But every man and every woman knows that if he is an engineer he is more likely to be employed and more likely to earn more."

In his new book, "Why Men Earn More - The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap and What Women Can Do About It," (AMACOM, 288 pp. $23) Farrell examines why men are earning more money these days and what women can do to start increasing their salaries. He outlines 25 ways that women can use to raise their salaries, while examining the trade-offs of each choice by changing career tracks, being more willing to travel internationally or working longer hours.

"It gives women choices and tells women how much money each choice is worth," said Farrell. "What types of trade-offs she will likely encounter. It leaves women at the end wit h an understanding that you aren't in a world that has stacked the deck against you."

Among the many statistics packed into Farrell's book, which took three years to research, each demonstrates how men end up earning more money than women simply by making certain career choices.

For example, because men commute 36 percent more than females, they end up earning $1,500 more per year. In another example, the average man works an additional year and half longer in his current occupation, and works between five and nine years overall. According to Farrell, for each additional year a man works he ends up earning 3 to 4 percent annual pay increase.

Until now, the root of the wage gap debate has been based on the presumption that women are discriminated against in the workplace, thus women ending up with lower salaries. But according to Farrell that has not been the case.

"Every time I read a statistic t hat says males doctors earn more than female doctors, the more I looked into those statistics," said Farrell.

What he found was that male doctors were more likely to work for private companies and work longer hours. Cardiac surgeons were more likely to be male, while female doctors were usually psychiatrists or pediatricians. Female doctors ended up having more control over the hours worked, while male doctors were more likely to work night shifts. Adding up all the different variables explained why men were earning higher salaries over women, not discrimination.

But the great news for women, according to Farrell, is that "when women do those things they actually earn more than men."

Farrell suggests that women should chose careers with higher financial and emotional risks, like a venture capitalist, rather than a teacher. Or work in hazardous professions, like an administrator in the Air Force, or be more willing to relocate to remote destinations or take jobs that require less job security. The goal is to go where there is a stronger demand for your skills with the understanding that you may be trading off career security or a regular paycheck in order to earn more money.

Among the top paying professions for women, according to Farrell is a sales engineer. A female sales engineer is paid 43 percent more than a male engineer.

When asked why that was the case, Farrell explained, "Many people, just plain like women and that's especially true in the area of sales. Many women want secure paychecks, when in fact, women have a lot of qualities that make them better at sales than men are." Among those qualities include having the ability to be very verbal, organized and prepared.

"So female access power, particularly when women are young, is enormous compared to men," said Farrell.

But even if with these possible o ptions available to women to increase their pay, not every female is going to be willing to make certain sacrifices, or trade-offs, like being away from the families for an extended period of time.

"The purpose of the book is not just to determine whether or not there was a real a pay gap, but also to be able to direct women to having better lives," said Farrell.

"If you are making personal decisions, than you can chose to change them if you wish to. The great news is that there are 90 fields that pay women more than men and there are 39 fields that pay 5 percent more than men. Look at those fields and see what is good for you."

One of the most startling statistics in Farrell's book is that unmarried women end up earning more money than unmarried men. Farrell explains that unmarried men end up taking more fulfilling jobs because they lack the responsibility of having a family or being a caretaker. While women take o n work as a part of their identity, focusing on how they can earn enough money to support themselves. When they do that, they are more willing to relocate and spend longer hours at work.

"The genders are interchangeable when you take away the division of labor that occurs with children," said Farrell.

For example, Farrell found that while both married men and women equally opened their own business, women earned only 49 percent of what men earn when they have their own start-up. And while 50 percent of men say that money is a priority, only 27 percent of women agree.

"Men and women acknowledge these things about themselves," said Farrell. "Both sexes who run their own business do not think money is the primary reason. They want their own autonomy. They want flexibility. But women in particular are more concerned about having some sense of earning money and controlling their lives."

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