Do women make less than men for doing the same work? It's a good question, and it's one that has a pretty clear answer. When the issue is doing the same work for the same pay, there is not a big difference between the sexes. When the issue is consideration of all work and the pay received for it, there is a significant difference between the sexes. Let's look at the data:
1. There are many factors which affect the level of pay that a worker receives. One of the more important ones is seniority; those who have more experience tend to be paid more than those with less experience. Because of many career choices made more often by women, men tend to have more work experience and get paid more as a result. Women take off time for pregnancy and for raising young children to a much greater extent than men do. Women take off more time to care for a sick family member than men do. These differences alone cause major differences in the number of years worked by men and women with the result that women have less experience and make, in general, less than men.
2. Men tend to work more overtime than women. This too results in men being paid more than women in total. There are millions more single mothers than single fathers who are caring for children. These people are much less likely to work overtime due to the demands of their childcare responsibilities. This difference also leads to man earning more in general than women.
3. Dangerous occupations are much more likely to be filled by men than women. More than 95% of all workplace fatalities each year are men even though women make up half of the labor force. This is because the people who work as firemen, police, drill rig operators, and other dangerous jobs are mostly men. The extra danger faced by these men, however, is also a basis on which they get paid higher salaries. Women who do these same jobs make the same as men, but there are essentially no women in the most dangerous fields. As a result, when the general level of compensation for women is compared to that for men, the women seem to be getting less.
There are other factors as well that skew the figures towards showing higher earnings for men than for women. The actual facts, however, show that when the question is whether or not women get the same pay as men for doing the same work, the answer is almost always yes. Then add in the fact that there is already law that requires employers to give equal pay for equal work, and we find that there are very few who intentionally violate this requirement.
Despite the facts, we have president Obama running around the USA claiming that women make only 77% of what men make. This is Obama's latest distortion of reality. Obama knows the reality. After all, when it was pointed out that the women who work in the White House make much less than the men, Obama's spokesman explained the difference by pointing out that the White House pays equally to men and women for equal work and that higher pay for men is the result of their doing different work from the women. The same is true of every single Democrat in the senate leadership; their offices pay men more in general, but they explain it by pointing to equal pay for equal work. Of course, then they criticize the country on the exact same basis that they just said did not apply to them. Let's hope that Americans understand this point.
There is no question that a man and a woman should receive the same pay for the same work. There is also, however, no question that if men and women do different work, they will not be paid the same.
1. There are many factors which affect the level of pay that a worker receives. One of the more important ones is seniority; those who have more experience tend to be paid more than those with less experience. Because of many career choices made more often by women, men tend to have more work experience and get paid more as a result. Women take off time for pregnancy and for raising young children to a much greater extent than men do. Women take off more time to care for a sick family member than men do. These differences alone cause major differences in the number of years worked by men and women with the result that women have less experience and make, in general, less than men.
2. Men tend to work more overtime than women. This too results in men being paid more than women in total. There are millions more single mothers than single fathers who are caring for children. These people are much less likely to work overtime due to the demands of their childcare responsibilities. This difference also leads to man earning more in general than women.
3. Dangerous occupations are much more likely to be filled by men than women. More than 95% of all workplace fatalities each year are men even though women make up half of the labor force. This is because the people who work as firemen, police, drill rig operators, and other dangerous jobs are mostly men. The extra danger faced by these men, however, is also a basis on which they get paid higher salaries. Women who do these same jobs make the same as men, but there are essentially no women in the most dangerous fields. As a result, when the general level of compensation for women is compared to that for men, the women seem to be getting less.
There are other factors as well that skew the figures towards showing higher earnings for men than for women. The actual facts, however, show that when the question is whether or not women get the same pay as men for doing the same work, the answer is almost always yes. Then add in the fact that there is already law that requires employers to give equal pay for equal work, and we find that there are very few who intentionally violate this requirement.
Despite the facts, we have president Obama running around the USA claiming that women make only 77% of what men make. This is Obama's latest distortion of reality. Obama knows the reality. After all, when it was pointed out that the women who work in the White House make much less than the men, Obama's spokesman explained the difference by pointing out that the White House pays equally to men and women for equal work and that higher pay for men is the result of their doing different work from the women. The same is true of every single Democrat in the senate leadership; their offices pay men more in general, but they explain it by pointing to equal pay for equal work. Of course, then they criticize the country on the exact same basis that they just said did not apply to them. Let's hope that Americans understand this point.
There is no question that a man and a woman should receive the same pay for the same work. There is also, however, no question that if men and women do different work, they will not be paid the same.
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