Truth of the gender pay gap

Every year, like clockwork, comes the reports about how women are paid 78 cents (pick 72, 83, whatever) on the dollar compared to men. Democratic politicians repeat this (mostly) falsehood to drum up the women vote. Shameless. Time to debunk this myth once and for all.

The yearly report does not compare apples to apples, it simply compares wages without taking into account the job, title, number of hours work, etc.

For example, the k-12 teaching industry has more women teachers than men. In most states, teachers start off pretty low on the pay scale. Engineering, on the other hand, have more male graduates than females. Engineers generally get paid more than teachers. This accounts for the vast majority of the pay gap. It is illegal to discriminate pay based upon sex, and you don't find a lot of lawsuits filed (there should be tons if indeed woman were discriminated against as the study implies).

If a woman takes 5 years off to stay at home and raise the kids, when she returns to the workforce, she will be 5 years behind on the pay scale compared to those who continued working. Unfair? Maybe, but don't include that as part of the gender pay gap.

Equal pay for equal work when the education, experience and job titles are the same and the value to the company are the same. One must compare apples to apples.

I'd like some sources that substantiate your opinion, please.

Quote from homers : Every year, like clockwork, comes the reports about how women are paid 78 cents (pick 72, 83, whatever) on the dollar compared to men. Democratic politicians repeat this (mostly) falsehood to drum up the women vote. Shameless. Time to debunk this myth once and for all. The yearly report does not compare apples to apples, it simply compares wages without taking into account the job, title, number of hours work, etc. For example, the k-12 teaching industry has more women teachers than men. In most states, teachers start off pretty low on the pay scale. Engineering, on the other hand, have more male graduates than females. Engineers generally get paid more than teachers. This accounts for the vast majority of the pay gap. It is illegal to discriminate pay based upon sex, and you don't find a lot of lawsuits filed (there should be tons if indeed woman were discriminated against as the study implies). If a woman takes 5 years off to stay at home and raise the kids, when she returns to the workforce, she will be 5 years behind on the pay scale compared to those who continued working. Unfair? Maybe, but don't include that as part of the gender pay gap. Equal pay for equal work when the education, experience and job titles are the same and the value to the company are the same. One must compare apples to apples.

If you want to see the pay gap, look no further than the White House.

I've always thought (thought being the operative word there), that if they did a study they'd find that the gender pay inequality has more to do with personality than sexism. That men are, in general, more cutthroat in the workplace. More likely to push for a raise or a promotion, more likely to fight to get salary increases. And women are more likely to go with the flow.

Again, just my opinion. The OP makes some valid points too. I just have a hard time believing that the majority of pay inequality has to do with sexism.

Quote from homers : Equal pay for equal work when the education, experience and job titles are the same and the value to the company are the same. One must compare apples to apples.

Are you claiming this (bolded) is true?

What is your source?

how does one compare the value of a person to a company?

Quote from Ryu-bom : how does one compare the value of a person to a company?

By the salary that they get.

Quote from bridgeburner : I've always thought (thought being the operative word there), that if they did a study they'd find that the gender pay inequality has more to do with personality than sexism. That men are, in general, more cutthroat in the workplace. More likely to push for a raise or a promotion, more likely to fight to get salary increases. And women are more likely to go with the flow. Again, just my opinion. The OP makes some valid points too. I just have a hard time believing that the majority of pay inequality has to do with sexism.

I believe you're right.

Many that would disagree, have trouble differentiating between equal opportunities and equal outcomes.

It's a common problem.

Having a pay gap doesn't make sense for the employer. If an employer can pay someone less and get the same work out of them, why in the world would they chose a more expensive employee.

I think employers in general care more about money than trying to screw over women.

Having a pay gap doesn't make sense for the employer. If an employer can pay someone less and get the same work out of them, why in the world would they chose a more expensive employee.

I think employers in general care more about money than trying to screw over women.

Quote from Byebye : Having a pay gap doesn't make sense for the employer. If an employer can pay someone less and get the same work out of them, why in the world would they chose a more expensive employee. I think employers in general care more about money than trying to screw over women. Having a pay gap doesn't make sense for the employer. If an employer can pay someone less and get the same work out of them, why in the world would they chose a more expensive employee. I think employers in general care more about money than trying to screw over women.

Is this an attempt at repeating the lie until someone believes you?

Quote from 124nic8 : Are you claiming this (bolded) is true? What is your source?

I posted this some time ago and it was actually somewhat interesting. I'm not going to go searching for it.. but on average women take far more days off than men. Not to amazing.. yes I know. Women are statistically more often the caregivers for the children, maternity leave etc. Except.. the interesting part was that women without children take still take far more sick days than a childless male. The research (if I recall correctly), stated that men are under more sociological pressure to earn more, be the bread winner etc..

So shouldn't the claim be more like equal for equal work, with equal benefits and equal sick time, productivity etc.. ?

Also it's pretty obvious that the high paying fields out there are mathematical and or science oriented. The fields in this area are among the highest paying and are typically male. On the flip side you have your liberal arts, english, side that are typically far less monetarily beneficial. Didn't government organization even start running ads to push women into the math/science area.. we even went through that manipulation of the SAT's some time ago to make it more non gender bias (aka use more word problems in the math area).

Maybe I'm just a disbeliever.. I don't think women are treated on a lesser scale than males. We even have more females graduating college these days.. maybe at some point the economics will shift and suddenly men will be complaining b/c women are to educated?

Quote from DJPlayer : I posted this some time ago and it was actually somewhat interesting. I'm not going to go searching for it.. but on average women take far more days off than men. Not to amazing.. yes I know. Women are statistically more often the caregivers for the children, maternity leave etc. Except.. the interesting part was that women without children take still take far more sick days than a childless male. The research (if I recall correctly), stated that men are under more sociological pressure to earn more, be the bread winner etc..

Because son and daughters equally take care of a elderly parent.

GIGO

Even without kids in the picture, women are *still* more likely to fill the "caretaker" role, especially as elderly parents live longer & longer.

ETA: Stupid sloooow phone! The above wasn't repetitious when I started typing it! Lol

I know I am not data, just an anecdote but when I was a newbie in my company, we were looking for a new person to hire into an engineering job and I heard HR say "let's hire the girl, we can get her cheaper because her parents are local she probably wants to stay in town, she will work for less" I then figured out that my salary was less than my male counterparts (I'm a chick)

Again, is this more than one data point? Hard to tell, but certainly interesting.

I know I am not data, just an anecdote but when I was a newbie in my company, we were looking for a new person to hire into an engineering job and I heard HR say "let's hire the girl, we can get her cheaper because her parents are local she probably wants to stay in town, she will work for less" I then figured out that my salary was less than my male counterparts (I'm a chick)

Again, is this more than one data point? Hard to tell, but certainly interesting.