Here's hoping

[pecunium]

Women are doing better than they were when I was in high school. Back then I recall a chart saying they made 67 cents for the same work a man got a dollar to do.

Seemed wrong to me then. Seemed more wrong that the chart wasn't really being honest, because that what what white women got. Black, women, hispanic women, and asian women got even less.

Today women are getting about 80 cents on the dollar; if they are white. With luck that won't be the case next year. There was a big deal about this at the Democratic Convention, and today the house passed a bill (again) which is likely to go to the senate (which this time is likely to pass it, requiring equal pay for equal work.

Down with Tyranny has details.

“In this economy, families are struggling to make ends meet. Not one of them deserves to be shortchanged, but because women still earn 78 cents for every dollar men earn, many unfortunately are. But this does not need to be. Today, by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, we send a strong message that gender discrimination is unacceptable and women will have the tools they need to combat it. We are standing up for working women and their families. It is our moment to fight for economic freedom and eliminate the systemic discrimination faced by women workers. With this legislation, we begin the change, make history, and change lives.”
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

Comments

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I have always been puzzled by these discrepancies because I thought it must be against the law to pay differently for the same work or job description. But I was not motivated enough to investigate.

[jenny-gould.livejournal.com]

if its anything like Britain, the pay discrepancies here are caused by

A) a *lot* of women working in a very small subset of the job market. These being part-time, very low paid jobs like catering, cleaning and low-end admin jobs. They are the sorts of jobs you can work round child-friendly lifestyles, but even if you have no children they are often the jobs women do!

B) Extra hidden perks on top of the advertised salary that need to be demanded. Men do better on average at finding out about and negotiating for them.

[elf]

(A) isn't relevant here; this is comparing wages for the same jobs, not the more general "compare what women make to what men make." That difference is a lot more than 20%.

(B) might be a factor, but might not; I'm not sure what statistics are used for these comparisons.

No, this is mostly just companies that hire two employees for the same jobs, one male, one female, and pay the man $10 and hour and the woman $8 an hour. Sometimes, there's a clause in the hiring contract that forbids discussing one's wages with anyone. And they can do this because there's no law against it. For a long time, the excuse was "the man probably has a family to support, and the woman is just going to leave when she gets married."

This excuse is no longer flying even in the most conservative groups in the US, and I'm happy to hear someone's finally addressing it again.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

One of the biggest problems is that women don't negotiate.

It's not so much that the offers are that different, I don't think. It's that the men negotiate more, and the women usually don't try to. Like Poe's gold bug story, the slight difference in starting position becomes a big difference as things continue.

[silkiemom.livejournal.com]

Yes, men tend to be able to negotiate for better salaries for the same position than women. Part of this is the expected behaviour for men and women. Women are valued for being "nice", while men are valued for being "aggressive". A man who negotiates hard for his salary and benefits is a good thing. A woman who negotiates hard is "pushy" and is not seen as a team player.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Oh -- just to be clear, I'm in no way suggesting it's fair not to pay women just because they aren't asking; just pointing out that it happens. We do get penalized for asking. I'm pretty sure I turned down one job that wouldn't increase the starting salary for me, but would have for a man.

[silkiemom.livejournal.com]

Looks like we agree on the negotiating part. :) And the difference in starting position really does perpetuate itself, since that starting salary is the basis for percentage increases, and also as a basis for negotiating in future job interviews.

But I don't know how we change the culture so that women don't get penalized for asking. :P

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Well, I've tried negotiating. Mostly, I'm told it's a "take it, or leave it" proposition. Even when I've been able to negotiate, it's been hard to know whether I got everything I could, due to the requirement (which isn't just contractual, but also social) that employees refrain from discussing their salaries.

[urox.livejournal.com]

Ditto this. I've tried negotiation and I've found they're less likely to budge than when some of my other co-workers have done so.