a question

[cheshire_girl]

A longer entry is in the works, I think. I've been sleeping a lot this week, and tonight I'm reviewing Zombieland, which should be a lot of fun. Thoughts are swirling through my head at warp speed these days.

I was chatting with a friend the other day and mused as to why it is that nationally, women are only paid 77% of what men are paid. This

Comments

I'm not so sure if it's actually sexism

[nadebug]

as much as women not being in jobs that make the most money. What's a job that, on average, makes a respectable at-least-middle-class'ish wage? Mine--Software Developer Not-So-Extraordinaire--for example. Of the 5 or so of us in my team that have similar responsibilities, 0 are women. However, our boss (a full professor) is a woman, and so is our graphic designer.

How many professor positions (not even full) generally open up every year? And graphic designer positions? Now, what about software developer/misc "IT" positions?

There were probably at least 10 women in my first two computer science classes (which I took my freshman year). There were 0 (that weren't undergraduates NOT intending to live life in Academia) by the end of my fifth semester.

Without knowing more, I would dare propose the idea that only thing sexist I think there ACTUALLY is about women getting paid less is that chicks simply aren't into the geeky crap that dudes are... the very geeky crap that happens to pay a good portion of the world's salaries.

Granted, this is out of my ass, but only to an extent. I wasn't lying about my CS courses. Please prove me wrong if need be.

Re: I'm not so sure if it's actually sexism

[nadebug]

Oh, also, I don't actually think proposing that chicks-aren't-into-geeky-crap is sexist. I'm pretty sure I remember reading articles about women brains being wired differently, so to speak.

Think about it: I'm a straight, but not-that-masculine of a guy, but my god tools are fucking neat. Not to mention other gadgets. Why do you think I own like 8 guitars and 10,000 other miscellaneous audio/video/computery gadgets? I only WISH I could afford a truck and/or sports car.

Now take my lab's graphic designer. She gets paid more than me for a profession she's been trained very well to do, but she's also very dude-like (albeit straight as well). She also owns a Mazda RX 8.

Just fuel for (thought and) the fire that will most likely ensue. ;-)

Re: I'm not so sure if it's actually sexism

[starwarschick22]

i completely a agree with the job thing. Thats the first thing i thought of when i read that. But it branches out of the technological aspect of it. Powerful men are just taken more seriously i think. Top executives, head doctor of a hospital, etc. I personally love technology/computers and all that stuff. I built my last two computers with little to no help. But on the other side of things, my fiance is a business analyst, he codes programs and stuff all day. Im pretty sure i would be completely lost on that sorta thing. But on the whole, yes women are usually apt to stay out of the whole technological aspect of the job force.

Re: I'm not so sure if it's actually sexism

[nadebug]

You may not realize it, but building your own computer is actually pretty advanced, even in the year 2009. Most people seem to still think the innards of computers are magic.

Re: I'm not so sure if it's actually sexism

[nadebug]

By the way, I love your icon.