Is the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution still needed?

[Mister K]

Regarding todays gender pay gap, would you take a stand for or against the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Is it even still needed? Please post your own thoughts on this as I’m struggling to take a side for or against.

[Deleted]

Regarding todays gender pay gap

Whats with the spending gap? Does that get adressed too?
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/legacy/717-1.gif

When neofeminism dies "More was not enough" will stand on its grave.
Better Health, longer lives,less likely to die due to work accidents, less likely to be victim of violent crimes, better education more purchasing power and less legal liabillitys.

"gender discrimination is one potential factor"

Well we never know...we just tried our hardest to prove that it is gender discrimination but who knows after looking at the Data
it could be technically everything.

[Rukentuts]

Because the 14th Amendment serves no other purpose or what?

[Endus]

I don't see how this has anything to do with the Constitution.

That aside, these pay-gap statistics almost always neglect to control for important factors. These include (but not necessarily limited to);

1> Hours per week worked (men typically average higher)
2> Days per year worked (again, men average higher)
3> Time out of the work force, particularly pregnancies, for women
4> Choice of employment; women tend to pick jobs which traditionally pay less, on average, than jobs men tend to pick, which weights the results.

A woman who works 65 hours per week as a lawyer and has taken no time off for family should be earning exactly what a man working the same hours, in the same firm, makes. If she works 45 hours per week to try and maintain some home life, and took time off for two pregnancies, though, it's reasonable to expect she'd be in a lower-paid position in the firm. Which is fine.

The issue is that it needs to be a reduction in pay as a consequence for the choices the woman made. Rather than a reduction in pay made by her employer over the fact that she has ovaries. Which is an issue, and I'm not saying it doesn't exist. Offering a female applicant a lower starting wage because you assume she's going to get pregnant in the future, for instance, is stark sexism and should not be tolerated.

[Imnick]

It's always a mistake to make this comparison purely along the lines of "male average" / "female average" when you get far more telling results from "white male average" / "white female average" / "asian male average" / "asian female average" / "hispanic female average" etc

[Endus]

It's always a mistake to make this comparison purely along the lines of "male average" / "female average" when you get far more telling results from "white male average" / "white female average" / "asian male average" / "asian female average" / "hispanic female average" etc

Sure. I wasn't trying to get into any specific details, I was just trying to define weaknesses in certain methodologies.

The point is; all things being equal, given equal choices, women should make exactly what men do. If women make different choices, then it isn't (necessarily) wrong if they reap different rewards for doing so.

[GreatOak]

What's the 14th amendment?

And when people complain about women making less they don't have a full understanding of the facts.

[Mister K]

Sure. I wasn't trying to get into any specific details, I was just trying to define weaknesses in certain methodologies.

The point is; all things being equal, given equal choices, women should make exactly what men do. If women make different choices, then it isn't (necessarily) wrong if they reap different rewards for doing so.

Exactly. It should all be based on the productivity of the individual.

[Mormolyce]

Obviously I defend equal rights on a constitutional level. We are equal at law, the pay gap is not a legal matter but a reflection of our society lagging behind. You can't fix a social problem with laws, you have to address it socially.

Whats with the spending gap? Does that get adressed too?
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/legacy/717-1.gif

Haha, you're holding up "my wife decides what we do on the weekend" as evidence of some kind of male oppression? That's hilarious.

See as a married man I would just call that "being married".

- - - Updated - - -

And when people complain about women making less they don't have a full understanding of the facts.

Please enlighten us with said facts?

[Skytotem]

If it's not needed then having it would do nothing. Ideally.

But literally every discussion on feminism on the internet justifies feminism being a thing.

"Oh but it's the internet" Well no shit the internet is populated by people who are real and live in the dang world, even if they're less vocal about being shitwagons off the internet.

I mean hell didn't we have a celebrity awhile back who waded into the water to save her nanny and baby from drowning or a shark or something and the media FREAKED OUT... about her chest showing briefly.

I mean seriously what the fuck.

[GreatOak]

Obviously I defend equal rights on a constitutional level. We are equal at law, the pay gap is not a legal matter but a reflection of our society lagging behind. You can't fix a social problem with laws, you have to address it socially.



Haha, you're holding up "my wife decides what we do on the weekend" as evidence of some kind of male oppression? That's hilarious.

See as a married man I would just call that "being married".

- - - Updated - - -



Please enlighten us with said facts?

[Velaniz]

If anything, the fact that there isn't overwhelming male unemployment is one of the most compelling arguments for why the gender gap, if it exists, isn't nearly as massive as these sensationalistic absurdities you see touted all the time. Man or woman, if you're really making 75 cents for every dollar someone else in an equal position is making, rest assured that incompetence on your part likely has a lot to do with it.

[Spectral]

Haha, you're holding up "my wife decides what we do on the weekend" as evidence of some kind of male oppression? That's hilarious.

See as a married man I would just call that "being married".

This same logic can be applied to a pretty wide range of modern feminist complaints. Personally, I'm inclined to consider the bulk of complaints with regard to gender inequalities to be illegitimate whines. There's still some things that I'd like to see improved culturally, particularly attitudes towards women in science because I'm close to that issue and it matters to me. I'm sure there's others that I'd care about if I was more familiar with them, but there's a lot that isn't predicated on much evidence at this point.

[RicardoZ]

In terms of the gender pay gap, I would say no. For various and sundry other things, I definitely think so.

[Slybak]

Because the 14th Amendment serves no other purpose or what?

There are multiple levels of judicial scrutiny when examining potential Equal Protection violations, by which I mean there are varying thresholds of legality that the government, state or Federal, must meet in order to comply with the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. An ERA would subject all laws and governmental practices to the highest level of scrutiny when they discriminate on the basis of gender. There are scholars and jurists who argue that the Constitution currently does that, but an amendment would settle any ambiguities.

[Zaqwert]

The 'gender pay gap' is a complete myth that has been thoroughly debunked numerous times.

Of course you keep hearing about this imaginary injustice because it serves a useful political purpose and doesn't fit the preferred media narrative of women as victims.