One Reason I’m a Feminist
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New York Times: Gender Pay Gap, Once Narrowing, Is Stuck in Place
Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, women of all economic levels — poor, middle class and rich — were steadily gaining ground on their male counterparts in the work force. By the mid-’90s, women earned more than 75 cents for every dollar in hourly pay that men did, up from 65 cents just 15 years earlier.Largely without notice, however, one big group of women has stopped making progress: those with a four-year college degree. The gap between their pay and the pay of male college graduates has actually widened slightly since the mid-’90s.
For women without a college education, the pay gap with men has narrowed only slightly over the same span.
These trends suggest that all the recent high-profile achievements — the first female secretary of state, the first female lead anchor of a nightly newscast, the first female president of Princeton, and, next month, the first female speaker of the House — do not reflect what is happening to most women, researchers say….
6 Responses to “One Reason I’m a Feminist”
The woman who are underpaid seem to represent a huge pool of talent that can be hired for below prevailing rates.
Maybe as more women open and operate businesses they can remedy this imbalance and force other companies to reckon with their missed opportunities.
Hence, I am now an independent consultant.
What a confusing article. It repeatedly notes that women as a class make less than men as a class, which unfortunately could be explained in a myriad of ways, quotes research that there is no evidence that discrimination (as opposed to choices) accounts for the gap, but also tosses in anecdotal evidence of women who have had reason to believe that they were being discriminated against. In short, it tells us very little that is actually new, but allows anyone who wishes to believe something about the gap to see support for their belief.
It’s as if the main goal of the author was not to be found in the wrong.
All women who work know that this gap exists and is a result of sexism.
Holly,
I’m happy to see someone who doesn’t run away from the “f” word. It’s refreshing, regardless of my feelings about it. However, I’d like to note that the pay gap that you’re really worried about when talking about equality is when you have two people of similar profiles, in which case, women earn 91% of what men earn (this, the article points out, has remained flat as well).
Now, one could look at this as proof of many problems, but 91% is pretty good, and could legitimately represent more benign causes concerning an excess of “Type A” personalities among men or somesuch. Still, one can always try to do better, and it would be nice to see a few more cracks in the glass ceiling. Besides, I’m sure you’ve heard enough anecdotal information to make a case that some of it is discriminatory.
I’ve been there. It’s especially pronounced in the field of broadcasting. One of the reasons I no longer work in that industry.