Thursday, October 18, 2012

23 cents, I has them.

By now, I'm sure everyone knows of the infamous "Binder of Women"... And then Slate.com posted a map.  A map created by The New America Foundation.  You can find this map here

I have a problem with this map.  My problem is that it basically says "difference in average pay for employed women vs employed men."  It doesn't say "difference in pay for equal work."  Whose fault is it that men tend to choose programming jobs over teaching?  Whose fault is it that most librarians are female while most engineers are male?

I'm not concerned that the 'average employed woman's pay vs. average employed man's pay' has up to a 45 cent spread on the dollar because it does not compare apples to apples.  I'm concerned when a woman with 4 years of experience in a field is paid less than a man with 4 years of experience in the same field when education is the same for both.**

**This has been illegal to do in the US for the last 50 years, but until somewhat recently there was no good way for those who could prove discrimination could get compensation.

No comments: