malemodels1.jpg

It is no surprise that female models make more money than their male counterparts. As an example, Forbes recently released a list of the highest paid male models. At the top, Sean O'Pry, earned about $1.5 million last year. But compare that to Gisele Bundchen, who made $42 million last year and you're left wondering why aren't male models earning as much?

O'Pry — who is pictured above and has modeled for Armani, Versace, H&M, Hugo Boss, Jil Sander and Viktor & Rolf — and he seems fine with the modeling wage gap:
"I'm not going to be complaining about not making $42 million. ... At the end of the day I'm very, very blessed with what I do," O'Pry said. "I don't have to wear high heels and I don't have to wear bikinis, so I mean, more power to the ladies. I'm very happy with my career."
So why are ladies making more money? The answer is obvious: Women are the ones shopping. As Nightline explains:
The men's clothing industry rakes in roughly $400 billion worldwide, but the women's clothing industry worldwide is worth about $621 billion. Female models at the top of the fashion industry have multi-million dollar contracts whereas the men largely are hired for photo shoots, Woodard said.
While they don't make as much as the ladies, they have to worry about their bodies and their physiques too.  David Gandy comes in at number 2 on the Forbes list. He says:
Gandy said modeling was difficult for him at first. He started off doing catalog shoots at a time when even male models were expected to be ultra-thin and look almost feminine.

"I came into the industry with the Dior guy — very androgynous, skinny guys were the moneymakers in the industry," he told Nightline. "I didn't follow the crowd. I didn't follow the trends. I bucked the trends. Everyone was saying, 'You need to be skinny, you need to be skinny.' Your legs need to be thinner, and I am not a skinny guy."
[ABC News, Forbes]