Does the gap between women's and men's salary have anything to due with choice of occupation?

Question

I would be curious to see what an average male nurse or pharmacist makes compared to a female counterpart.

Answer 1

A man and a woman working the same job recieve exactly the same pay, this is a law. It was enacted in the 70's.

Difference in pay over the whole work-base is due to men having higher paying jobs, due to women taking time out of their careers to raise children.

I will say this again,
TO PAY MEN AND WOMEN DIFFERENT SALARIES FOR THE SAME JOB IS ILLEGAL, IT DOES NOT OCCUR. This has been inacted in America as well as Britain, it is also in teh European Union constitution.

The whole 'glass ceiling' argument is complete fiction.

p.s. to WhoKnew, please quote your sources, i'd love to read them, i would appreciate if you read the source I used, and reassesed your argument.

Answer 2

There is a lot of disparity on this one...one reason COULD be women do tend to leave the workforce...even if it is only 3 months of maternity leave...they are usually the ones who are home with a sick baby, home when school is closed, must leave work early to go and get the child ....and i know for me...i chose a job with fewer responsibilities ( ie...less pay) because ONE of us parents had to be close to our daughter....to perform tall the above tasks! and my husband (at the time) wasnt willing to be that parent.....Honestly, i see this scenario A LOT
another scenario is many women go into fields that are conspicuously underpaid...nursing, teaching, day care and social work being some arenas dominated by women and dominated by lower pay...(OK, teaching is making some head way!)
I forget the college but i do remember a study within the last two years of business school graduates...young people, childless, over-achievers all of them....and the women ON AVERAGE started with lower salaries...did not get as high a raise as male counterparts...so over aabout 10 years time...were making less money than the men ....child care was not an issue with those polled.....So many reasons....and i dont think it can be denied that being the main provider of children can get in the way sometimes....

Answer 3

That and the fact that most women leave the workforce for many years and don't have the cumulative work experience.
Read an article written by a woman some time ago, where she points out that there was a lesser discrepancy between male and female wages in the early '50s. The reason she gave was, that women who worked then were into their careers, not having a family.

Answer 4

I've seen a pharmacist salary survey. In terms of the difference between male and female pharmacists, the difference is statistically insignificant. The difference is a few hundred dollars.

Answer 5

Nope. Discrimination, pure and simple. Also, many men refuse to discuss really important business with women, they feel they have to deal with an inferior executive, even if the woman holds a position where she can clearly make decisions.

Many labor laws and workplace environments were created by men for men, the fact we are biologically able to conceive is a drawback.

The little boy's club is alive and kicking.
Go get 'em Hillary.

Answer 6

no! when woman do the exact same job, they typically get paid less. A great example- the PGA and the LPGA. People have more respect for men in the workplace. They create less drama and work harder for their pay. We women squabble to our coworkers about our kids and spouses and stuff. Men go to work, work, and go home. Plain and simple!

Answer 7

Occupation is one factor, yes. Men tend to work more dangerous and more technical jobs. Also the type of jobs you see on shows like "Dirty Jobs" are worked primarily by men; some of those guys are getting paid a lot to work in those disgusting fields.

Another factor is children. It's one of the primary factors in the mythical "wage gap." I put an interesting link in the source if you'd like to read more on that.

Finally, never believe people like "Who Knew!" up above who claim that there are some phantom "studies" where every factor was accounted for. In every study I've seen them produce, they always ignore something so crucial that the evidence is laughable. For instance, one simply compared college graduates. It didn't take into account WHAT they graduated with (once again, hard sciences and more technical fields tend to be male-dominated), nor did they factor in which jobs they'd gotten or how many years they worked.

There are, of course, career-driven women. But there are many, many more men who tip the balance.

Answer 8

Who Knew, there are no statistics on the Department of Labour website indicating that women earn less for the same job with equal education and experience. This is i.l.l.e.g.a.l. The asker is correct, there is no unfairness in the "wage gap", the statistics feminists cite indicate the average total income over a lifetime of women and men, indicating women earn less BECAUSE OF CHOICES MADE.

Incidentally, the only way to resolve this "wage gap caused by choices" is to limit women's choices to ... WORKING AS MUCH AS MEN. With the parallel neglect of children and family that goes with it. Which would appear to be the feminasty's aim.

The persistence of feminists in these sort of myths is the reason feminism has zero credibility. It is also the reason we know feminists are interested in supremacy, not equality.

This myth has been so thoroughly debunked, it's embarassing. This is a partial article with references.

The Wage Gap Myth Is Hazardous To Men's Health

by Stephen Jarosek

A study in the May issue of American Economic Review (2003) had found that the wage gap between men and women was the result of lifestyle choices, and not discrimination. It was found that choice, not discrimination, is the determining factor in wage difference 97 percent of the time. The wage gap myth has been debunked numerous times -- for example, by the Independent Women's Forum, and the publication, "Women's Figures", by Furchtgott-Roth and Stolba (1999).

The wage gap fiction was derived from the median wages of all men and all women in the work force, without regard to age, education, occupation, experience or working hours.

It's pretty obvious, isn't it? You'd think that if you had to explain something so self-explanatory, you might as well not bother and go and live in an ashram in India.

We know how it goes…. Women are more likely to work fewer hours so that they can have more time to devote to the caring of children. Men are more likely to value career and therefore, work longer hours per day, devoting many more years to developing their expertise that makes them more valuable. Men are more likely to work in the death careers, such as mining (and therefore get paid more), whereas women are more likely to work in air-conditioned offices, regardless of their skill-level. Women are more likely to pull out of careers in order to raise a family -- the stay-at-home mom is a legitimate, fulfilling option and an ideal escape-hatch. No such fulfilling option is extended to men. The man who chooses the stay-at-home option becomes an invisible drone, of no interest to men or women, employers or government, God or country. And so on.

The various studies that have been coming out have been equalizing the wage-gap disparities, and so feminists no longer have any basis to claim discrimination on the basis of income.

As a further very dramatic example, there was the New York Times article by Lisa Belkin, "The Opt-Out Revolution", published on the 26 th of October, 2003. After arraying a formidable and damning indictment of a revolution choosing to opt out instead of persisting with the good fight, Ms Belkin asks the rhetorical question, "Why don't women run the world?" Her answer is "Maybe it's because they don't want to."

Precisely. The wage gap is not a wage gap at all. It is a choices gap. Put simply, women have more choices than men. In most cases, their additional choices (e.g., stay-at-home-mom) require men to continue providing for them, and this is the reason for the wages gap.


Copyright: Stephen Jarosek (2004)

Answer 9

Possibly. It also has something to do with whether someone will hire a woman for particular positions. Equality in the work place is still a work in progress in the U.S.

Answer 10

I think it has mostly to do with child bearing. Women are more likely to quit a job after giving birth and stay home for a period of time, and when they return to the workforce, they are at a competitive disadvantage in terms of # of years experience versus a man of similar age.