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Salary Parity

Why do men make more than women for performing the same work? Assuming the same qualifications and the same performance standards, men consistently and across almost the whole spectrum of occupations make more than women. I have no logical reason why this should be the case. I really have no illogical reason either, other than persistent, latent sexism.

The pope recently said that this disparity amounted to a "scandal" and that Christians should "decisively support equal pay for equal work." Seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? And yet...

Here's a link to the Reuters article about it:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/29/us-pope-women-salaries-idUSKBN0NK1J520150429

I wish more political, religious, and other community and business leaders would take such a stance. While equal pay is just one aspect of the problems related to sexism, it is clear that it is one area that could easily be fixed, and one that would have an immediate benefit to the whole economy, not to mention the relative position of women in our society.

Women are worth more than the $0.77 they make relative to the men's full dollar. Shucks, everyone deserves to earn the full dollar, regardless of gender. I really can't understand why this is even a thing.

Comments

lillysmum said…
Well, although the parity is less pronounced within the same job, and that some of the reason for the wage gap is that women choose less lucrative fields as a general rule, the big part of the problem comes from the fact that those less lucrative career choices are often culturally viewed as "women's work." So, the big question is, WHY do we value women's work so little?
Because women have been seen for so long as appendages to men.
May 1, 2015 at 12:15 PM
Anonymous said…
RIDICULOUS! This is such a made up non-issue by the left! NONE of what you wrote above can be proven. On the contrary, it can be proven that for women under the age of 45, when employment type and hours worked are taken into account, the pay gap is completely non-existent. The current obsession with the gender pay gap bears only a passing relationship to reality. In the past few months, several news stories have focused on how the gender pay gap has narrowed as young women out-earn mean, and mothers' pay has risen faster than fathers'. When the total earned by ALL men is compared with the total earned by ALL women, there are indeed disparities. But anyone with half a brain and not trying to make an issue out of a non-issue can look at the reasons behind those statistics: 1) People nearing retirement age today entered the labor market in an era when fewer women went to college and when it was neither so acceptable or so practically easy for women to work full-time once they had started a family. 2) It also points to the fact that men were more likely to work full-time, and keep working full-time, even when children came along, than women. Even today, when women have children, many decide to not work at all (exactly what our church teaches), or to work only part-time; those who do work full-time many decide not to apply for a promotion because of all the extra work it might entail, or not to clock up all the extra hours needed to qualify for a bonus. Instead, they choose to spend that extra time on their children and family.
Perhaps you should spend your time and effort praising the women you know who choose to not have a career, but instead choose to stay home and raise their families up unto the Lord, rather than jump on the error-ridden political bandwagon of the left and stir up trouble where none in reality exists.
May 1, 2015 at 9:16 PM
Bill Cobabe said…
If it is such a non-issue, why would the Pope call it a "scandal"? I'm quite flabbergasted that anyone can look at the situation and not realize it for what it is. You're either terribly ignorant or naive. And your comment about raising families unto he Lord has nothing to do with this thread and is a complete straw man. So save your vitriol for your right wing comfort zone. I'm sure you will find many who will love to lap it up.
May 1, 2015 at 11:11 PM
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