Wage gap revisited
Rep. Carolyn Mahoney (2007) urges her readers to participate in "Equal Pay Day" on April 24th. Equal Pay Day is theoretically the day when what a woman earned since January 1st, 2006 equals what a man in a comparable job earned in calendar year 2006. The National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) website says that Equal Pay Day will be featured in a segment on ABC World News tonight.
CNN Money reports on research released yesterday by the American Association of University Women (AAUW, Hill, 2007). The study found that as early as 1 year out of college, women are earning only 80% of comparably educated men, and that the gap widens from there. Although the study acknowledges that much of the differences is due to choices, a significant portion of the gap has not been explained by anything but gender at this time.
When asked why I transitioned, I've joked that I became a man because I wanted to earn 30% more without working any harder. There are a lot of other factors at work in the wage differential between men and women; I've explored some of them before (see tag="wage gap"). The difficult question is this: is it wrong? Is it unreasonable to expect employers to disregard prior experience when dealing with employees? Women are more likely to take sick days or family leave. Are pay increases based on prior performance or expected performance -- and what should they be based on?
CNN Money reports on research released yesterday by the American Association of University Women (AAUW, Hill, 2007). The study found that as early as 1 year out of college, women are earning only 80% of comparably educated men, and that the gap widens from there. Although the study acknowledges that much of the differences is due to choices, a significant portion of the gap has not been explained by anything but gender at this time.
When asked why I transitioned, I've joked that I became a man because I wanted to earn 30% more without working any harder. There are a lot of other factors at work in the wage differential between men and women; I've explored some of them before (see tag="wage gap"). The difficult question is this: is it wrong? Is it unreasonable to expect employers to disregard prior experience when dealing with employees? Women are more likely to take sick days or family leave. Are pay increases based on prior performance or expected performance -- and what should they be based on?