djchameleon

That was just one example but even if they aren't being paid minimum they have equal wages in other fields as well. As long as that field isn't a field where they have the ability to negotiate for a higher wage during the hiring process.

It falls back to the responsibility of the individual to ask to be paid more for their skill set.

It's also women's lack of confidence that plays into it and how they view themselves as far as not wanting to be bitchy/aggressive in the workplace.

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Paedantic Basterd

I just want to point out, with regard to your graphic, that it's quite short-sighted.

You can't just tease apart these things and say "Well this evens this out". It's just not that simple. For example, the graphic says that men "choose" the highest paid fields, but is that really the end of it? You don't think that decades of assumptions about men's versus women's talents in something like math factors into it? You don't think men are more likely to get accepted into graduate programs in departments like engineering? You don't think that stereotypes about the nurturing nature of women factor into their presence in careers like psychology, social work, and nursing?

And I'm not saying it ends there either. You can come back at me and tell me how nursing and social work are biased against men, and you'd probably be right. You could come back at me and say that neurocognitively, men tend to outperform women in tasks of spatial orientation or logical reasoning. Then I'd mention "stereotype threat" to you, but it'd only be one part of the picture.

Inequality is one of the MOST COMPLICATED problems we face in society because it's deeply engrained in the fabric of our psychology and how we've constructed a society, and there is no single thing that we can tweak that will fix it and let it all fall into place. Inequality acts and is compounded at SO MANY levels.

Point is, everybody suffers some kind of discrimination in society. Instead of denying that this is true (because everyone wants to be the biggest victim when it comes to human rights), can we not acknowledge all of these areas at the same time, and work towards treating everyone better?

It's just not possible to say "X is the biggest problem. Once we solve X, everything will fall into place".

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

I agree 100% with everything you just said PB. There's a reason why men had higher paid professions in the past, just like there's a reason why there's more men in these powerful political positions discussed earlier by elphanor. My point is the issue is ingrained in society and the way we think, it has nothing to do with women just "making less" than men, it's not a black and white issue.

I also think the statistic regarding women in there 20s making more than men is quite interesting. I believe that graph has it wrong because I've heard 4% a lot more than 8%, but nonetheless it shows a strong change in numbers.

I wonder if it has anything to do with women being more willing to commit to staying in a post-secondary Institute for longer. That's a totally anecdotal guess, but from what I've seen men seem to, on average, seem more determined to jump right into the work force whereas women take more care to ensure they're in the best position possible when entering (I.e higher degree, better education.)

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Paedantic Basterd

Well, first off, I'd take any floating statistic with a grain of salt. The thing about science is that you can spin it any way you want. E.g., without seeing the source study for that particular fact, we don't know if it's "women of these ages earn 8% more but the study was done in a particular field or region". The precision of words used when reporting science needs to border on philosophical pedantry, but often doesn't.

That said, I can't imagine anybody earning money while attending post secondary education, but that's a personal anecdote.

Urbandictionary couldn't tell me what that meant.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

oh right yeah, if they spent more time in university they certainly wouldn't make more money during those years. well there goes that idea.

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Cuthbert

Co sign. I'm agreeing with you.

DwnWthVwls

By your logic everyone on earth is oppressed because everyone faces some form of social injustice in varying degrees.

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Frownland

Eh I can see ingrained sexism making it difficult for a woman to compete in that field but that's super difficult to prove, let alone fix. I think both are at play tbh, but sexism doesn't play nearly as massive of a role in it as some people make it out to.

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Frownland

That's so artificial though, it doesn't actually address the root of that issue, it just kind of slaps a bandaid on it.

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Frownland

But the leading wage gap statistic that's always mentioned is a comparison of overall wages, not for the same position (because that number is much smaller).

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