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

economist.com

191–200 of 362 posts

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

#191
post #7

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

Why don't men take these hiatuses?

In addition to other reasons, two kinds of leave are conflated in the US system. There's the sort of leave that occurs when the kid is born. Women typically can spend days (sometimes more) in the hospital convalescing after a birth. Leave policies don't really distinguish between "leave to have a baby" and "leave to look after a baby," it's all lumped under "maternity leave."

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

#192

Generally speaking the problem isn't that individuals get paid less. It's systemic issues - which are harder to fix. For example: women as a whole are less likely to be in higher paying jobs in STEM roles. Or CEOs. Or high level Politicians. Why? Multiple reasons but the overall point is there is institutional and social pressure (mostly unconscious or learned) for women to avoid those fields. So the average gets low…

About 20% of the workforce in tech is women. Less than 20% of students who take the AP Computer Science test are female. [1] So whatever makes women uninterested in programming happens before college. Men are much more thing-oriented than women, who are more people-oriented. The size of the effect is "very large", larger than any other difference in personality [2]. Programming is obviously a thing-oriented activity.…

So whatever makes women uninterested in programming happens before college

I don't think that, by itself, lets industry off the hook completely. We still have to make a culture that isn't downright repulsive to half of the population.

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

#193
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't see how all these surprising facts where people are doing things that go against their best interest, can be explained by irrational but strong forces such as sexism?

I understand, but blaming it on irrational sexism in the ether doesn't help us fix the problem. It's not an actionable piece of information.

The first step is to understand that the problem does exist, even if it may not be apparent, or even if we can find other, simpler or more comfortable explanations. That's all my reply could hope for at best. There are many smarter and better people than me offering plenty of detailed analysis and paths to action.

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

#194

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…

As mentioned elsewhere, doesn't this article sort of refute the idea that women don't negotiate salary well if their pay for the same rank/role is just 1% different than that of their male counterparts?

No, not really. At lower grades, salaries are often not negotiated. At the higher grades where you see the differences they are.

So the data from the article corroborates that idea.

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

#195
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't capitalism about the use of capital to control and manage markets? If I will £5m on the lottery and then set up a company investing that money am I worth the 4% a year I should (probably would) make? The value of your teachers (or lack of value) will only become apparent over time - a long time. The value of your doctor may become absolute to you, several times over your life. God forbid that you or yours fall…

While I never said societies should implement full 100% free market capitalism, all the problems that you mentioned cannot exists in that system. Free uninterrupted competition will destroy people/companies overpricing their services or force them to compete as well => lower their prices. Basically, offering poor/expensive service in capitalist system will naturally invite competition until the optimal price/value po…

You discount the abilities of monopolists to prevent new market entrants. They can lower prices only when there is a new player, until that player goes bankrupt, and then raise them again, discouraging others from trying again. They can lock up suppliers in exclusive contracts, preventing competition from sourcing parts. They can run massive disinformation campaigns. They can launch a series of baseless lawsuits. Etc... It's straightforward to have an abusive hold on a market without any government involvement at all, all you need is some deviousness.

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

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you insinuating that women - today - are forced into that narrow set of professions if they want to work?

Why the emphase on `forced` and `today` ?

Because it would make sense 50 or more years ago, when women were openly shut out from other professions. That's not to say the after-effects of those outmoded cultural traditions aren't having an impact, but to claim that this accounts entirely or even majorly for the professional disparity in female representation demands evidence.

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

#197

Generally speaking the problem isn't that individuals get paid less. It's systemic issues - which are harder to fix. For example: women as a whole are less likely to be in higher paying jobs in STEM roles. Or CEOs. Or high level Politicians. Why? Multiple reasons but the overall point is there is institutional and social pressure (mostly unconscious or learned) for women to avoid those fields. So the average gets low…

About 20% of the workforce in tech is women. Less than 20% of students who take the AP Computer Science test are female. [1] So whatever makes women uninterested in programming happens before college. Men are much more thing-oriented than women, who are more people-oriented. The size of the effect is "very large", larger than any other difference in personality [2]. Programming is obviously a thing-oriented activity.…

My kids will be taking every AP test they can reasonably handle, including the Comp Sci AP, regardless of whether they are male or female, simply because tuition is crazy now, and only getting crazier.

I want to retire someday, and I also want my kids to be free of student loan debt. So I guess all it takes to defeat sexism once and for all is massive financial stress upon the middle class. Way to go, everybody!

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

#198
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Women are generally less inclined to negotiate then men This blanket statement seems sexist. Some are inclined and some are not. Besides, as soon as one leaves the world of small business, the corporations stick to salary bands attached to specific titles. The variations within the bands are usually driven by longevity with the company as well as performance reviews. It makes things easier in HR department, and cre…

Well, I was simply taking the person I was responding to at their word. I'm not aware of evidence on either side of the issue of whether women negotiate more or less, I was just granting them their supposition, because I think its irrelevant.

Most of the research around the topic quotes a study on negotiated prices at car dealerships, where women ended up with higher prices offered at the start of the negotiation and ended up with higher prices by the time the process ended.

Which is a very specific use case of a specific environment with mainly unknown opponents (as opposed to work relationships, where you typically know the boss), tight deadlines (need a car immediately) and little wiggle room (shopping around car dealerships is time-consuming, sending resumes to competitors to test the waters is less so).

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

#199
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's another way to frame that... too few men put their career advancement on hold when they choose to have children. Instead of sharing the burden, society expects a disproportionate sacrifice from women. Typical example: Nobody asks a male CEO or politician who is staying home to take care of the kids.

Of course, missing out on your kids growing up is also a sacrifice itself, even if it's something that maybe we as a society value less than a big salary - and it's certainly something men are expected to value less.

Absolutely. I have two children and I got to be much more involved in the early childhood of one than the other. It's a sacrifice that I've felt personally. It's just not anywhere close to a level playing field.

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

#200
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Women are generally less inclined to negotiate then men This blanket statement seems sexist. Some are inclined and some are not. Besides, as soon as one leaves the world of small business, the corporations stick to salary bands attached to specific titles. The variations within the bands are usually driven by longevity with the company as well as performance reviews. It makes things easier in HR department, and cre…

Goodness, man. Stating facts is not sexist. > Some are inclined and some are not. That is what "generally" implies, yes. There is an argument that women are generally less inclined to negotiate due to the effects of sexism.

http://news.ufl.edu/archive/2015/04/why-everything-youve-hea...

"Miller and Douglas discovered that women who had experience with successful negotiation were superior negotiators to men, even when they rated themselves as only average negotiators."

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