how come a woman gets paid less than a man for the same job?

Question

a man working in the executive position may earn up to $1000 every two weeks, but a woman working in the same position, same neighborhood, etc. earns about $ 850. everyone says that equality of the sexes exists, but how come you never see it? i mean come on, hilary clinton can run for president, but she earns less than george bush. im not sexist, but i think men have a lot more power over everything than women do.

Answer 1

You are forgetting that technically women fit into the category of "Minority." This includes women of european ancestry. It's the same for the rest of us, white males dominate government and business. But let's not whine about, let's just kick some butt.
You vote for Hilary, and I'll vote for Barak and we'll both vote fore whoever wins the democratic ticket.
Deal?

Answer 2

Women get paid less because men used to dominate all high level executive jobs, and the number is still tilted towards men even though it is getting more even. Right now there are more women than men in college, so eventually this will change and women will make just as much, it just takes a long time - like generations. I think it is ridiculous for a man to say that they deserve to make more than a woman who is doing the same job. For a business to be successful they need to have the best people for each position, regardless of their gender. By the way, if Hilary Clinton becomes President she will make just as much as George Bush did, the amount the President makes is a law and is not based on gender.

Answer 3

Your stats are horribly wrong.

First of all, to make $1,000 every two weeks means you are making 12.50/hr and working 40 hrs/week. An "executive" typically works longer, perhaps 50-60 hrs/week, so you're talking ten bucks an hour. Somehow, I tihnk there are a lot of non-executives out there that can make ten bucks an hour or more. In fact, I tihnk most of those "executives" are going to making at least 3-5 times as much, and often more when you are looking at big companies. I'd question your sources of information.

Secondly, what other factors are involved here? What companies do these hypothetical people run? How well can they lead? How much experience does each person have, and what is their track record? I hate it when people come out with statistics and do not take time to control for the many, many factors that go into such things.

Personally, coming from the chemical engineer's perspective, I haven't seen any such pay discrimination. On the bottom of the scale, where I've also worked, I haven't seen any discrimination either. What I have seen is stats where non-earners are included in order to inflate the "wage gap," and I've seen cases where various factors are deliberately ignored.

As far as equality of the sexes goes, why don't you ask questions about the fact that there are a number of scholarships, grants, and even jobs that are reserved for women only? There's a lot of problems out there that aren't covered.

Answer 4

A lot of interesting answers. The most important one is the one given by Chris J. The wage-gap is an illusion pushed by feminists to increase female anger towards men, in general. They might argue that they're trying to level the playing field...but if the field is already level then their motives must lie elsewhere, correct?

This question is moot in that it is based on a false assumption...that there is a wage gap between men and women. As a result, there's no way to truly answer the question because you'd be explaining the reasons for the existance of something that doesn't exist. Anyone trying to answer the question must therefor have an agenda to push.

Answer 5

It's always been that way. I'm not that old at 41, but can you imagine how it was for the women who are now in their 60's and older? I mean, you couldn't even get divorced unless HE let you. The theory behind women earning less for equal work or position stems from the myth and belief that men need to earn more to support their family. Of course, now nearly as many women work to support a family on their own, so, no, it's not fair or equal in any way. But, thanks to the women who came before us and all of the progress they created with birth control, family law, wages, taxes, etc..

I'm not a feminist or in any way radical, but I do what I can to help advance women's rights, especially in regard to laws that have to do with child support and domestic violence. I stand for going forward, not backward, and I don't think we should let our daughters down by being satisfied now. There's a long way to go, I think.

Believe me, I LOVE men (my man) and I do whatever I can to please him and make him happy - because I love him and he would never expect me to be subservient, but I am kind of traditional that way and it's my way of showing love and care and respect, but that's different because I have a choice and in many places in the world women have no choice in their lives and no protection. Think about it and try to help move us forward too!

Answer 6

Because the fact is in the USA that equality amoung the sexes does not exist. If you look back through history the Equal Protection Act was never officialy ratified in the USA because some states didn't ratify it. The Equal Protection Act would have made women get the same benefits as men. Plus the USA is still a male dominated society. See these sites for more info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Protection_Clause

http://www.answers.com/topic/equal-protection-clause

Answer 7

Sexism is still endemic in our society. The wage gap doesn't go away with educational level, job commitment, anything.

A few years ago, one of the top research universities (MIT? I forget) was horrified to discover the results of a study they did about gender and office/research space. This was a school very aware of sexism, yet the women had significantly less space assigned to them than the men did.

The point is, sexism is very subtle, but very strong in our society. If a school committed to gender equality could do so wrong by its female staff, it should come as no surprise that corporations are the same way. It happens with other minorities, as well (though it seems weird to talk about 52% of the population being a "minority", but that's how women are treated).

As to the guy who claimed that men are always breadwinners: please. The vast majority of single parents are women.

Answer 8

Yes, there IS a wage gap. Just look at the census--even when they balance for experience, vacation, and maternity leave, women still make less than men. Study after study after study has confirmed this. Of course, that doesn't mean that every woman makes less than every man, but on average they do.

Not only do women make less than men for doing the same job--jobs that are traditionally "women's jobs" pay less than job's that are traditionally "men's jobs." School teachers, for example, generally earn less than plumbers, even though most people would admit that the teacher is doing the more important job.

And the whole "men need to support their families" argument just doesn't hold. What if the man dies? What if he leaves her? Beats her? There are millions of single-mother households. Most women who are homeless are because they have left abusive males who provided for them financially. So yes, women need to make a living, too.

Answer 9

The wage gap is an illusion. If you take all of the women and average out their pay and you take all of the men and average out their pay and you end up with the wage gap. This doesn't take into account the level of position that the people held. There appears to be a wage gap because a higher percentage of men have upper level jobs than do women. When you take a specific industry, you find that not only does the wage gap go away, it actually goes in the other direction.

Answer 10

I am in still in college and I often wonder will it matter that I am a woman when I start working someday.The job I am aiming at is mostly done by males, so I will be surrounded by male colleagues and only a few females.Even now,some of my college colleagues tell me my work isn`t going to be as appreciated as a male`s work.I also wonder if women are asked questions like "Are you going to have children?" at job interviews.Some people say they aren`t allowed to ask those questions,but I still think they do ask things like that.One thing is sure,we might live in the 21st century, but sexism still very much exists in our community.