Gender Wage Gap???

[socialize_me]

I'm a guy, and I always keep hearing people bitch that women make something like $0.79 for every $1.00 a male makes. Now I'm not for any government law forcing businesses to pay men and women equally, but what are some reasons as to why this is the case? Does anyone have a better argument than the usual "Should the government tell businesses what to do??" because when talking to most people, they don't buy that argument very well.

[Danke]

Men are worth more.

[dannno]

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=172909



-Men go into technology and hard sciences more than women.
-Men are more likely to take hazardous jobs than women, and such jobs pay more than cushier and safer jobs.
-Men are more willing to expose themselves to inclement weather at work, and are compensated for it ("compensating differences" in the language of economics).
-Men tend to take more stressful jobs that are not "nine-to-five."
-Many women prefer personal fulfillment at work (child care professional, for example) to higher pay.
-Men are bigger risk takers than women, in general. Higher risk leads to higher reward.
-The worst working hours pay more, and men are more likely to work these hours than women.
-Dangerous jobs (coal mining) pay more and are more male dominated.
-Men tend to "update" their work qualifications more than women do.
-Men are more likely to work longer hours, and the pay gap widens for every hour past 40 per week.
-Women are more likely to have "gaps" in their careers, primarily because of child rearing and child care. Less experience means lower pay.
-Women are nine times more likely than men to drop out of work for "family reasons." Less seniority leads to lower pay.
-Men work more weeks per year than women.
-Men have half the absenteeism rate of women.
-Men are more willing to commute long distances to work.
-Men are more willing to relocate to undesirable locations for higher-paying jobs.
-Men are more willing to take jobs that require extensive travel.
-In the corporate world men are more likely to choose higher-paying fields such as finance and sales, whereas women are more prevalent in lower-paying fields such as human resources and public relations.
-When men and women have the same job title, male responsibilities tend to be greater.
-Men are more likely to work by commission; women are more likely to seek job security. The former has more earning potential.
-Women place greater value on flexibility, a humane work environment, and having time for children and family than men do.


This is from:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo160.html

[Natalie]

This is one of the liberal "statistics" that drives me nuts, because it is wrong and everybody keeps repeating it. There is a pretty good book called The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism written by Carrie L. Lukas.

Here's a paragraph from it:

"The Department of Labor statistic used as the basis for all this hoopla ignores the many relevant factors that affect a worker's take-home pay. For starters, it doesn't adjust for number of years worked. On average, women spend about a decade out of the workforce caring for their families. It should come as no surprise that a thirty-five-year-old woman reentering the workforce after ten years off earns less than a man or woman who worked continuously during that time. The wage-gap statistic also fails to consider educational attainment. Today, women earn more than half of all bachelor's and master's degrees, but it wasn't always that way. Older women in the workforce tend to have less education than their male peers, which affected their career path, their salaries, and ultimately Department of Labor Data."

I'm not typing out a whole chapter, but here's another random paragraph:

"If you still aren't convinced that "75 cents on the dollar" is a misleading statistic, consider what its veracity would mean. If women perform the same work as men for three-quarters of the pay, then a company that hired only women would have a huge advantage over its competitors. Its fixed employment costs would be much lower for the same amount of output. Sexism in the marketplace would have to be so strong that other companies would rather lose business and have higher labor costs-- maybe go bankrupt-- rather than to hire more female employees. To believe that a huge persistent wage gap exists is to believe that American businesses-- including those run by women-- are economically foolish."


So basically, the reason these stats are skewed is because women take an average of 10 years off their careers to raise children. Men also take on more high risk jobs (men account for 92% of deaths that occur in the workplace), and jobs that require braving the elements outdoors. These jobs pay more.

For doing the exact same job, women actually make more like 98 cents for every dollar that a man would make.

[sdczen]

I'm a guy, and I always keep hearing people bitch that women make something like $0.79 for every $1.00 a male makes. Now I'm not for any government law forcing businesses to pay men and women equally, but what are some reasons as to why this is the case? Does anyone have a better argument than the usual "Should the government tell businesses what to do??" because when talking to most people, they don't buy that argument very well.

This is another question that is phrased in such a way that will always be incendiary. From my perspective, you are asking the wrong question, because the underlying facts are incorrect.

First, there are current laws on the books that prevent employers from discriminating against race & gender. These laws are very enforceable. In my dealings with Hiring/Firing employees, Human Resources has a clear set of rules (based on current laws) and has specified the salary range for each position. If I were to pay an employee outside this salary range for the job description and experience level. The the other employees would be able to contest their wages as long as they were at the same experience/productivity level. If they were of a particular race or gender, the case would be much more pertinent.

Second, If the $0.79 to $1.00 wage gap did exist for male/female employee, with the same level of experience and productivity, why then wouldn't the employer only hire female employees and continue to pay them lower wages and reap the 21% profit increase by only hiring women? Wouldn't the employer benefit by hiring only women if they are truly as productive as men and could get away with paying them 21% less and pocketing the difference? There would be a run on hiring women only.

[Josh_LA]

there is no unfair wage gap between sex any more than there is a participation of sports gap between whites and blacks.

people are paid what they are worth, if women can afford to strike and bargain their wage, they're free to do so. Nobody is forcing anybody to accept a wage they believe in unfair (your situation of having to pay bills is not their fault)

[euphemia]

We are a fairly small team, and I earn more per hour than every man I work with, except one. He has two years seniority, and is a supervisor, but the top wage earner on our team is a woman.

[Josh_LA]

We are a fairly small team, and I earn more per hour than every man I work with, except one. He has two years seniority, and is a supervisor, but the top wage earner on our team is a woman.

employers don't need to justify wages to employees just like merchants don't need to justify prices to buyers, whatever you find is fair is fair, if you can't afford it, it's nobody's fault, if the merchant can't sell you the item, it's not just your loss.