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When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

economist.com

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Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#11

Post by oldboyFX »

Still not sure what to believe on this issue.

Some points of discussion are (unrelated to article):

1. If women were 25% cheaper than men while being as competent, wouldn't white/male capitalists trip over themselves to only hire women to increase their profits?

2. Women are less likely to negotiate salary and assert themselves, as women in general are more agreeable than men. Is this behavior based in biology or is it social construct?

3. Women tend to choose lower paying jobs, such as teacher, caregiver etc. In general women tend to care about people, while men care about things (STEM). Again: biology or social construct?

For example in Sweden, which is doing it's best to increase gender equality, sex differences between men and women maximized http://jamda.ub.gu.se/bitstream/1/833/1/scb_eng_2014.pdf

So perhaps occupation differences are healthy and natural. Of course, in Sweden engineers don't earn 300% more than teachers, so it's not a huge problem like in the USA.

The logical solution would be to increase pay in women dominated professions. But this kind of thing spits in the face of capitalism.

It's a tough problem to solve, and I still have no idea how to go about solving it.

EDIT: Additional explanations

Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#13

Post by mobiplayer »

rexpop wrote: post #7
onewhonknocks wrote: post #3

When adjusted for factors such as hiatuses for raising kids, the answer is 'no.'

Why don't men take these hiatuses?

Because women are paid less, so couples decide the best paid member will keep working.

Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#14

Post by grillvogel »

danharaj wrote: post #4

> Although the average woman’s salary in Britain is 29% lower than the average man’s, the bulk of that gap results from differences in rank within companies, firms’ overall compensation rates and the nature of the tasks a job requires. If Software Engineer II makes less than Software Engineer III, and women of equivalent skill and experience to men have a significantly higher chance of being Software Engineer II than…

yeah this pretty much invalidates any conclusions they are trying to reach. i've noticed at my company that competent women seem to be stuck at the same title for a pretty long time.

Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#15

Post by abritinthebay »

onewhonknocks wrote: post #3

When adjusted for factors such as hiatuses for raising kids, the answer is 'no.'

If you just adjust everything away... well yes.

But the point is that those things you have to make adjustments for are the problem.

Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#17

Post by johnfn »

The whole point is that society systematically undervaluing women-dominated professions is sexism. It makes sense that the pay gap disappears when the job differences go away, because the job differences are the pay gap.

A good example is teaching. Teaching is an incredibly valuable job. It's also dominated by women. It also happens to be way, way underpaid.

It embarrasses me to see this on HN.

Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#18

Post by cwbrandsma »

rexpop wrote: post #7
onewhonknocks wrote: post #3

When adjusted for factors such as hiatuses for raising kids, the answer is 'no.'

Why don't men take these hiatuses?

My salary pays the mortgage, food, utilities, .... I optimize for keeping things payed for and running, my wife optimizes for family health and happiness. I'm not saying that is universal, but that is how it works for my family, and a good number of other families I know.

Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#19

Post by vkou »

oldboyFX wrote: post #11

Still not sure what to believe on this issue. Some points of discussion are (unrelated to article): 1. If women were 25% cheaper than men while being as competent, wouldn't white/male capitalists trip over themselves to only hire women to increase their profits? 2. Women are less likely to negotiate salary and assert themselves, as women in general are more agreeable than men. Is this behavior based in biology or is…

Because outside of tech, there's a glut of trained, capable workers.

Re: When all job differences are accounted for, the pay gap almost disappears

#20

Post by 0xbear »

rexpop wrote: post #7
onewhonknocks wrote: post #3

When adjusted for factors such as hiatuses for raising kids, the answer is 'no.'

Why don't men take these hiatuses?

Because it's not socially acceptable to take a hiatus _instead_ of the mom and not economically viable for both parents to take a few months (or ideally a year or more) to take care of the newborn. Because men can't breastfeed. Because mothers are more attached to their children, instinctively and psychologically. There are dozens of reasons "why".
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