criolle johnny says:
Wed, 18th May 20115:13 pm 

I make a habit of citing my sources. Here are a few things that study might have missed.
“The Myth of the Wage Gap” By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
“given all the misused statistics to the contrary, they make about the same.”
“Perpetuating the Wage Gap Myth For Trial Lawyers” by Dana Loesch
1.“the median full-time salaries of young women lawyers are 8% higher than those of the guys in their peer group …”
2.“with young women in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego making 17%, 12% and 15% more than their male peers, respectively.”
“Women In Tech Make More Money And Land Better Jobs Than Men” by Alyson Shontell
1.“males who are computer science majors … earn an average starting salary of $60K”
2.“women who find jobs within that same time frame are paid an average salary of $62K.” http://bizshifts.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/%E2%80%…
(Do women make less than men?)
1.women are choosing to major in less competitive disciplines.
2.female students on average cared more about “non-pecuniary” issues like parental approval and enjoyment of future work
3.the costs, according to some, are the result of a woman’s free choice, not an injustice imposed on her by society.
WALL STREET JOURNAL http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704…
There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap
1.“The unemployment rate is consistently higher among men than among women.” (You can check the BLS stats on this one yourself) http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t10.htm
2.working women spend an average of 8.01 hours per day on the job, compared to 8.75 hours for full-time working men
3…. "single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30, the research firm Reach Advisors found that women earned an average of 8% more than their male counterparts."
4."Women gravitate toward jobs with fewer risks, more comfortable conditions, … "
5."Men, by contrast, often take on jobs that involve physical labor, outdoor work, overnight shifts and dangerous conditions … "

AMERICAN THINKER (tends toward religious rant on occasion) http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/09/the_wage_g…
“a decade after graduating college, 39 percent of women leave the work force or work part-time, versus 3 percent of men.”

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Workplace fatalities … men are 54% of the workforce but 93% of workers who died at work due to fatal accidents or violence … http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0004.pdf
Workplace suicides … 94% of which are men http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/sh20040126ar01p1.htm
Occupational Segregation
The most hazardous jobs — whether due to exposure to dangerous substances, or to risk of falling or being in a highway accident — are disproportionately held by men.
WITH NO PAY PREMIUM! http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2003/dec/wk1/art02.ht… http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2004/sept/wk4/art04.h…

If you want equal pay, get the equal degree and work equal hours.
I for one do not wish to hear about helpless abused women one minute and about empowered independent women in the next breath. Men also suffer. Most of the lost jobs in this recession are MALE jobs. That's hard on a man psychologically.
I actually read this column to SEE and appreciate a female view of the world. I am often horrified to see how few women have the same courtesy.

Matt says:
Wed, 18th May 20118:02 pm 

Not as bad as you think. The pay disparity makes perfect sense. Women tend to gravitate more toward jobs like teaching which have lower paying salaries while men gravitate toward higher paying jobs like business. If you are comparing men and women getting hired for the same job, the pay disparity is nonexistant.
Also, WOMEN are in fact getting paid 8%MORE than men in the 22-30 age bracket! (recent graduates)
Check out this article written by a women in the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704…

quinn says:
Wed, 18th May 201111:20 pm 

CC writes this article every year. Each time it is inane and whiny. I appreciate criolle johnny's efforts cite valid sources, and would like to focus on the two dubious references you do "reference".

"In a study of nearly 13,000 graduating seniors last fall, researchers discovered that the median starting salary for female college graduates with bachelor’s degrees was $36,451. Not bad, right? Except that the median salary for male college graduates with a bachelor’s degree was $7,708 more. For the same job."

1 – This article never says same job. Your reading comprehension is lacking.
2 – The article explicitly states that the study looks at major, not by job, so you cannot argue that it is "equal work"

"And the study could not find a correlation between college major and earning, meaning that it’s not like guys are making more money because they tend to pursue a field that pays more. They’re just getting paying more…because they’re men. And keep in mind this is before the company sees any type of job performance."

Really? What study? The only study cited before this does not mention the word correlation, and in fact does not mention distribution of men and women across majors.

"And working harder than most men, so where is our compensation? I’m not asking to be paid more, I just want to be paid the same amount. You know, what I deserve."

Do you expect your writing to be respected when you cite an article about self perceptions of the difficulty of work as evidence that women work harder? There is no quantitative data there – no matter how they try to slice and justify it.

nicole says:
Thu, 19th May 20111:13 am 

Regardless of the supposed lack of fact checking here, it is a sad state that men can knowingly justify and defend this infuriating reality. And I can 99.9% guarantee it is all men writing this poor reasoning for paying less. I'm no feminist, but this is an issue I would readily protest against, loudly.

criolle johnny says:
Thu, 19th May 20119:42 am 

It IS whiny! If you have a five year degree in English Lit, you're not gonna get the same paycheck as someone who got a degree in computer science or chemical engineering. Those degrees are H-A-R-D to complete and there is less competition for those jobs. Employers will pay more when there are fewer candidates from which to chose.
If the jobs require family separation time, or if the jobs are dangerous, you have fewer candidates. Men tend to accept them more readily. Those jobs pay better because, again, there are fewer candidates. The same type of jobs closer to home pay less because of the convenience. You cannot pick and chose the easy, convenient positions and expect to get paid the same as the difficult jobs.

Do the harder work, get the bigger paycheck. THAT'S EQUALITY!

Cat says:
Thu, 19th May 20115:28 pm 

I'm going to have to agree with the male posters on this board, and I'm a woman. I actually researched this very topic a few years ago and found the same findings. The bottom line is that when you account for variables like time off from the workplace to raise children, the wage gap for men and women working the same job with the same years of experience, etc. is actually about 2% in favor of men, which is within the statistical margins of error. In some fields where there are few women, like the sciences, women are actually on average paid more. I do believe that a slight wage gap exists because culturally women are very good at negotiating and bargaining for salaries of others, but not so great at negotiating on their own behalf. I think that part of the reason might actually be the perpetual myth that women are paid less than men. It may actually undermine women's confidence in their ability to argue their own value.

Quinn says:
Sat, 21st May 20116:13 pm 

Where are we arguing that it is ok to pay less just because someone is a woman? We are arguing that it is ok to pay people differently based on the skills that they have and the job work position they are fulfilling. Full Stop.

Second, we are arguing that the pay differential is not near the level argued by this article.

Finally, we are arguing that if this writer wishes to be taken seriously she should actually learn how to properly reference sources and then quote them accurately, which she is not doing.

quinn says:
Sat, 21st May 20116:15 pm 

edit- the differential is not near the level *when other variables are accounted for*

G m says:
Tue, 24th May 201110:33 pm 

As an engineer at my university, I can tell you that it is the other way around:

For instance, at the undergraduate level, nearly EVERY girl gets an internship (even when she has a lower qualifications than many of the guys who apply for the same job).

At the graduate level, fellowships are given to just about any girl who wants it. Meanwhile, us guys have to fight tooth and nail over a package that pays far less.

The disparity in the pay can be attributed mostly to the fact that the jobs most women choose inherently have a much smaller salary.

The arguments presented in this article are childish at best..

Mark says:
Mon, 30th May 201111:16 pm 

Wait what? You can pay women less than men to do the same job!? Wow! Why would I ever hire a man if i could pay a woman less money to do the same work!? Seems like I would hurt myself economically if I discriminated against women.

78cents says:
Thu, 2nd Jun 20118:57 pm 

Love your blog. Looks like we are on the same track. http://www.78cents.wordpress.com

Blaire says:
Sun, 12th Jun 201111:15 pm 

Please proofread:

"They’re just getting paying more"

Get an education. Learn to write properly. Then, perhaps, you'll deserve to be paid more.

Women aren't paid less because they're women. They are paid less, as a general rule, because they work less, choose fields that are less demanding (that thus pay less), and take time off work to raise children.