Happy [Belated] Equal Pay Day
Ladies, did you miss the party? This past Tuesday was Equal Pay Day! This awesome holiday marks "how far into the year the average woman must work to earn as much as a man earned by the end of the previous year." For the record, the date is calculated based by comparing the wages of women and men employed full-time--so it can't be explained away by the unpaid hours of at-home moms or part-timers. And even more astonishingly, it hasn't moved to a substantially earlier point in the year for an entire decade!
If this isn't enough to piss off everyone (not just women) reading this, then check out WageProject.org for more. It includes a calculator so women can compare their salaries (which on average are about 1/4 lower than their male counterparts) with men who work in the same industry in the same geographic area.
Now I'm going to try and curb the anger welling up inside of me and let you know there are dissenters out there who say "those who still cite women's 76 cents for every male dollar as evidence of sexism fail to take into account the underlying role of personal choice. The "wage gap" is not so much about employers discriminating against women as about women making discriminating choices in the labor market." As evidence of this, however, the site says, "...women gravitate to sectors of the economy that compensate workers at lower levels... For example, fewer women have chosen to enter such technical fields as computer sciences, math and science teaching, medicine, law and engineering. In 1998, women earned only 26.7 percent of computer science degrees."
An interesting argument. I don't buy it--because isn't the lack of gender parity in the sciences also a problem?
Finally, let me put it out there that I'm not ranting about this because it's an issue I personally have faced, but because I believe it's something this country (and many others! read: Japan) has been ignoring for far too long. So take a minute check out WaPo's article on what we can do about this unacceptable state of affairs.
posted by the Assistant at 12:19 AM
1 Comments:
Other considerations (i'm male btw).
As I was applying to my first job out of the military, the "requested salary" had me stumped. I had no clue. My father gave me some advice on that.
"You are ONLY worth what YOU negotiate".
While I believe the lower pay statistics, I do not fault the companies. When a position is created, the resposibilities and compensation is all worked out LONG before the position becomes available, usually months. If, for example, you and I apply and are equally qualified, I want $100/hour and you want $75/hour, the choice is clear. I'm sure there are some rare examples of companies that pay women less on purpose, but any company of significant size, the paperwork far out weighs the "what gender makes more" argument.
I do indeed see it as a problem, but would like to see some focus on the above issues. I will get flamed if I make the "women can't negotiate" statement, but because it's uncomfortable, or not politically correct doesn't mean that it couldn't be, even a little, part of the issue.
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