Women Are Not WorthLess
According to this video, "Women today make just 77 cents for every dollar a man makes — that's an average of $10,622 in lost wages every year. For many women and their families, ending the wage gap would buy a year's supply of groceries, three months of child care, or six months of health insurance. It's time to stop discounting women's voices and paychecks."
I guess that means that every business in America could save 23% on its wage costs starting tomorrow by firing all male workers and simply replacing them with equally-qualified women at wages of 23% less. But wait a minute, that's illegal according the Equal Pay Act of 1963.
Thanks to Christina Sommers for the link to the video.
15 Comments:
If you look at the payroll data, men on average work an extra 6 hours/wk. Since this is mostly overtime pay, they get paid for 9 hours more. With women averaging 36.1 hours/wk and men paid for 45.1 hours (adjusted at 1.5X difference from women), women should make 36.1/45.1 = 80% of a man's salary. 77% seems mighty close.
"I guess that means that every business in America could save 23% on its wage costs starting tomorrow by firing all male workers and simply replacing them with equally-qualified women at wages of 23% less"...
Ahhh, no they can't since women in jobs demanding physical strength can't carry their end of the log...
There is no such creature as an equally qualified woman in many job sectors...
In a white collar environment one might be able to pull that sort of stunt...
Besides being juvenile, the video makes all the classic mistakes. Junkyard_hawg1985 already has noted that men work more hours per week than women, on average. Men also typically have had more experience (on average) because women (on average) drop out of the labor force temporarily to bear and rear children, thus reducing their total experience and also interrupting the flow of their careers. Outdoor jobs, dangerous jobs, and physically demanding jobs unsurprisingly pay a compensating differential. They also are way disproportionally held by men. Women *choose* careers in fields that do not pay as well as the fields that men choose. Engineers, for example, have high salaries. Most are men. When all those differences are taken into account, women actually earn slightly *more* than men.
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Due to his misogynist views of women, especially those who earn more than men.
"Outdoor jobs, dangerous jobs, and physically demanding jobs unsurprisingly pay a compensating differential"...
What?!?!
Where does this happen? Some place where there won't be lawsuits filed for discriminate pay?
Perhaps men are just better at negotiating/selling themselves?
Anyway unless the types of jobs women do are exactly the same as men these figures are pretty meaningless. A qualification in itself doesn't guarantee you a particular income - it depends on the role.
Isn't that exactly what is happening, male unemployment is rising far faster than female employment. Employers are deciding with the wallets, women who are cheaper are being retained, expensive males are being fired
Isn't that exactly what is happening, male unemployment is rising far faster than female employment. Employers are deciding with the wallets, women who are cheaper are being retained, expensive males are being fired.
Ripe material for a discrimination suit(in favor of the men), or does that only work one way?
Most of this "mansession" is because of the types of jobs lost -- disproportionately construction. This topic has been covered on this blog previously.
Can those numbers be right? If women earn 23% less, or $10.662 - which pays for 3 months of child care, then they are paying $590/mo more for childcare than their gross earnings from going to work. No wonder they are upset!
Maybe women aren't really paid 23% less, but only think they are due to inferior math skills as indicated by lower SAT scores.
Ron,
Your post reminds me of a classic Dilbert strip where Marcy is complaining to Wally about women getting paid only 80 cents for every dollar a man earns and complains that it is not fair for men to get paid 20% more. Wally states, "Actually, from that number, men get 25% more, but this probably isn't a good time to point our that my math skills are better than yours."
"Your post reminds me of a classic Dilbert strip where Marcy is complaining to Wally about women..."
I remember that one, Junkyard, It is indeed a classic.
This myth has long since been debunked by the Department of Labor.
Women earn less per year because they work fewer hours per year, period. Notice how this myth always presents yearly wages, but not hourly. It's because there IS no hourly difference.
http://www.the-spearhead.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Gender-Wage-Gap-Final-Report.pdf
Go ahead and check for yourself.
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