quote:

ORIGINAL: thompsonx


ORIGINAL: Awareness



The gender pay gap math works like this:

You add up all the money which men earn, then divide it by the number of men working: This becomes the average income for a man.

You add up all the money which women earn, then divide it by the number of women working: This becomes the average income for a woman.

The liars whining about the gender pay gap claim that because the male average is higher than a female average that this is proof of a gender pay gap. It is a statistical fallacy.

That may be how you do the math but it is not the way that sane people do.

Actually that is exactly how it is calculated. The popular 79% figure is the ratio of median incomes for full-time, year-round employees.

Men work longer hours in riskier jobs which pay better.

Which jobs would those be?

Construction - 9% female
Logging - 3%
Mining - 13%
Utilities - 22%
and on, and on and on.....


If you work longer hours, you make more money. That's how an hourly pay rate operates.

No the way that the hourly pay rate operates is that you work more people at less than full time so you don't have to pay overtime or provide benifits.

You do make more money if you work more hours, that's how hourly works. We are talking about full-time year-round employees, so benefits are paid. It is cheaper, typically, for an employer to have the employee work overtime rather than hire a new one. You don't pay more for health insurance by someone working overtime but they do by adding an employee (among many other fixed-cost benefits not tied to pay rate or hours worked). Only until the extra wages from overtime reach a tipping point is another employee hired. And the employer needs to be confident that the additional demand that required overtime will be sustained to justify hiring an other worker.

The gender pay gap is NOT based on comparing men and women with equal qualifications and experience.

Yes it is until you can prove otherwise.

Numerous studies exist that show statistically insignificant differences in a variety of industries. The largest comparing men and women with college degrees, working in the same fields, and the woman did not take off more than 2 years for childbirth had a statistically insignificant 98% ratio. Laws already exist that protect from pay differences for similar jobs.

But the onus of proof is on those who claim the gap exists, not on those who say otherwise. The burden of proof always falls onto the affirmative position.


It is based upon comparing two averages which completely fail to account for the fact that women just don't work as hard as men do.

That would be your ignorant unsubstantiated opinion which is worth the price of used shit paper.

I believe the intent of the comment was that "work harder" meant more dangerous and physically demanding jobs and/or offered more overtime. These jobs are dominated by men because women do not apply for these jobs, not because they are denied opportunity. Women dominate retail and service sector (food service, etc.) and non-profits. These are all typically lower paying positions (sometimes minimum wage), and are lower paying even at the management level. I'm guessing that in order to help correct the perceived wage gap that you support California's $15 minimum wage because it will mostly benefit women and help shrink the gap.