You would think we might have been shocked when a recent study by the American Association of University Women revealed that women who are one year out of college make just 80 percent of what men the same age earn. Women make less even if they work in the same profession, and 10 years out of college, they take home only 69 percent of what men earn.

But more jolting than the statistics is that they seemed to surprise no one. Even when AAUW researchers allowed for factors such as lower-wage careers that women tend to choose and leaving the work force to have children, the wage disparity persisted: Women one year out of college made 5 percent less than men and the gap more than doubles, to 12 percent, when men and women are 10 years out of college.

“There’s no way to directly measure sex discrimination, and most employers don’t think they’re discriminating,” said Catherine Hill, co-author of the AAUW study. “Still the gap is there. What are we to make of that?”

We’ve come a long way since the days when male executives routinely asked female associates to serve the office coffee. Now the barriers that keep women from advancing are much more subtle, often unintentional and sometimes put up by women themselves.

Those who research inequities in the workplace tend to agree that women often aren’t as effective as men at negotiating their salaries and being direct about their long-term commitment to their jobs if they need to temporarily scale back their hours.

But there’s more to the pay gap than that. “There’s still enormous discrimination against part-time workers, who are often women,” said Myra Strober, a labor economist and professor at Stanford. “Also I don’t know how this country expects us to raise our children with no child care system and no paid parental leave.”

Those who roll their eyes when women leave the work force to raise families but still complain about pay inequities should remember that “choice” is sometimes a direct reaction to discrimination.

I have often heard from women in science and technology fields, which are high-paid and male-dominated, that they are so sick of the barriers they face, including a lack of mentors, that they leave to have children and never return to the profession.

Also, both men and women still cling to stereotypes about gender-oriented jobs, with the “girl jobs” being those that stress communication or care-taking but pay less. As Strober says: “Why aren’t we discussing why these jobs are lower-paying? It’s ridiculous to expect all women to go into the science and business fields. Who will be nurses and social workers?”

The good news is that, as more women than men graduate from colleges and professional schools, employers are beginning to understand that they have to make allowances for flex time and adjust their thinking about stereotypes if they want to make the most of the talent pool.

Catalyst, a nonprofit organization that focuses on advancing women in the work force, has conducted research showing that companies with more women in top management positions have a higher bottom line. “Companies need to be more agile in working with the life cycles of employees,” said Kara Helander, vice president of Catalyst’s western region, in San Jose. “It’s not just a ‘nice’ thing to do. It’s a business imperative.”

That kind of thinking may make the gender pay gap not just old news but a lot closer to extinction.