Reasons why the gender pay gap doesn't really exist.

[Laize]

Or rather, if it does exist (Which I don't believe it does), it's vanishingly small. The idea that women make $.77 to a man's $1 is ludicrous and here's why.

Department of Labor study finding pay gap is caused by choices rather than discrimination.

Men work, on average, 27% more hours than women while suffering 13.3 times as many on-the-job fatalities

Pay statistics don't compare apples with apples

Fair pay doesn't always mean equal pay

In New York, women between the ages of 21 and 30 earned, on average, 17%, on average, more than men

Pay gap activists purposely distort yearly earnings down to hourly earnings to make it appear as though women earn less.

The recession has actually hit men harder than women. Men, as a group, in the workforce have lost almost twice as many jobs as women. This means women now outnumber men in the workforce.

Society provides women an option to be the primary parent, which most seem to take. 57% of Harvard and Stanford female graduates left the workforce within 15 years of graduation rather than put up with long, stressful hours.

Blaming men for women's choices is unfair when most men support their wives' decisions to leave or enter the workforce.

In the book, Why Men Earn More, Warren Farrell found that while men do generally earn more, women were offered better balance and more options in their lives such as flexibility, shorter commutes, lower physical risk and the option to become a primary parent (Whereas men are expected to take the highest paying job regardless of stress, flexibility, commute or physical risk and VERY few people support a male primary parent). In short, they made less by choice and were happier for it.

Women stay out of more lucrative employment fields by choice, not because of sexism.

Here's a nice article about why women only make up 5% of entrepreneurs in the US.

So can we please stop hearing about the gender pay gap in political and gender-relations discussions?

[Rukentuts]

Women stay out of more lucrative employment fields by choice, not because of sexism.

As a computer engineering grad, I have to concur with this point.

[Laize]

As a computer engineering grad, I have to concur with this point.

I have a female friend who's a fluid dynamics engineer at a major company. She tells me she was one of 2 women in her higher level math and engineering courses.

[fizzbob]

it's like nursing, that's a VERY HIGH DEMAND JOB in my area and has been for years. male nurses are rare (1 in 11)
jobs are traditionally male or female and the better the job, the more that holds true

but every minority/whatever that fights for equality doesn't want equality, they want more than what they have and more than what you have

[Blueobelisk]

Oh man I love the way you have sources for all your info dude. Sick stuff. +1

[Rukentuts]

I have a female friend who's a fluid dynamics engineer at a major company. She tells me she was one of 2 women in her higher level math and engineering courses.

That's about right. We would have maybe 2-3 out of 30-40 once we hit 300-400 level.

I also clearly remember one class of about 20, with no women whatsoever; total sausage-fest. However, then I'd go off to Engl 105 and over half the class was women...

[Urti]

As a computer engineering grad, I have to concur with this point.

Agreed. My experience as a molecular biology student was that the vast majority of women in the dept were either nursing/medical or science education. This despite lots of outreach by the school to get women more interested in the research and engineering aspects, including very nice scholarships specifically for female researchers.

[Lollis]

As Sean Lock explained, women get vouchers in their magazines and men don't. It's swings and roundabouts.

[Enthusiastic Steward]

On the other hand my wife (who works as a chemical engineer at a major company) was told by a male co-worker that if he was running a company he wouldn't hire women, because they would be distracted by things like family and would probably just get pregnant and leave anyway.

So there's that.

[Sole-Warrior]

At first glance, I thought it was just another angry rant, but YOU HAVE SOURCES TO BACK UP YOUR CLAIMS!
Kuddos to you.

[Rukentuts]

On the other hand my wife (who works as a chemical engineer at a major company) was told by a male co-worker that if he was running a company he wouldn't hire women, because they would be distracted by things like family and would probably just get pregnant and leave anyway.

So there's that.

Which is illegal.

[draganid]

considering how its considered a social norm to have to pay for dates as a guy and buying girls drinks at the bar never happens the other way around, i think a pay gap is fair. if the woman's presence is tolerable, she will be indirectly reimbursed the pay discrepency (and then some) anyways.

[Kazlehoff]

Remember to quote your REDDIT source for basicly everyhting in this OP.

http://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/c...mans_1/c6nmfiv

[Laize]

On the other hand my wife (who works as a chemical engineer at a major company) was told by a male co-worker that if he was running a company he wouldn't hire women, because they would be distracted by things like family and would probably just get pregnant and leave anyway.

So there's that.

Ever think that maybe that mentality is the reason he doesn't run a company?

There's a Department of Labor study right at the top that says discrimination isn't the cause of a pay gap.

[Itisamuh]

Hey now, come on. Let us not ruin the feminist agenda with ludicrous things like facts. Seriously though, most informed people know the pay gap does not really exist anymore. Take for example a local factory where I live. Aside from management positions, which has plenty of men and women, the most common promotional positions are tech, and what would basically be an inspector, taking samples and whatnot. Techs make more money than inspectors. Almost all techs are men, but it has nothing to do with discrimination. Women just never apply for it. And yet, despite the obvious, women still point out that men make more money, on average, at the plant than women. Ridiculous.

[Urti]

considering how its considered a social norm to have to pay for dates as a guy and buying girls drinks at the bar never happens the other way around, i think a pay gap is fair. if the woman's presence is tolerable, she will be indirectly reimbursed the pay discrepency (and then some) anyways.

J/K
Just once I wish she would roofie me... le sigh.

[raddry]

It's quite nice you provide sources for everything you say Other than that, who cares really? People will always whine about something.

[Laize]

Remember to quote your REDDIT source on this OP.

http://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/c...mans_1/c6nmfiv

Yep. That's where I got it. However I'm not writing an academic paper or making money on this post so I saw no reason to link to a Mens Rights forum on Reddit. There are probably a ton of people on this board who view the idea of a Mens Rights Movement as laughable.

[Lenn]

Or rather, if it does exist (Which I don't believe it does), it's vanishingly small. The idea that women make $.77 to a man's $1 is ludicrous and here's why.

Department of Labor study finding pay gap is caused by choices rather than discrimination.

Men work, on average, 27% more hours than women while suffering 13.3 times as many on-the-job fatalities

Pay statistics don't compare apples with apples

Fair pay doesn't always mean equal pay

In New York, women between the ages of 21 and 30 earned, on average, 17%, on average, more than men

Pay gap activists purposely distort yearly earnings down to hourly earnings to make it appear as though women earn less.

The recession has actually hit men harder than women. Men, as a group, in the workforce have lost almost twice as many jobs as women. This means women now outnumber men in the workforce.

Society provides women an option to be the primary parent, which most seem to take. 57% of Harvard and Stanford female graduates left the workforce within 15 years of graduation rather than put up with long, stressful hours.

Blaming men for women's choices is unfair when most men support their wives' decisions to leave or enter the workforce.

In the book, Why Men Earn More, Warren Farrell found that while men do generally earn more, women were offered better balance and more options in their lives such as flexibility, shorter commutes, lower physical risk and the option to become a primary parent (Whereas men are expected to take the highest paying job regardless of stress, flexibility, commute or physical risk and VERY few people support a male primary parent). In short, they made less by choice and were happier for it.

Women stay out of more lucrative employment fields by choice, not because of sexism.

Here's a nice article about why women only make up 5% of entrepreneurs in the US.

So can we please stop hearing about the gender pay gap in political and gender-relations discussions?

Here is a chart on the wage gap, with sources:

http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/s...table_data.pdf

"Source: American Community Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau. Data compiled and
analyzed for AAUW by JSI Associates. For more information about JSI Associates,
visit www.jobsearchintelligence.com."

This is not my field or work, nor am I all that interested in the debate (though to be a responsible citizen perhaps I should be). But, some of my colleagues are policy researchers, and this was shared with me before.

Just thought some data from the other side'll make this conversation more even.

[Rukentuts]

It's quite nice you provide sources for everything you say Other than that, who cares really? People will always whine about something.

Because it's a topic of perceived social injustice that always comes up.