Women Make $0.75 For Every Dollar Made By Man

[jeffrey]

The disparity in pay between men and women working full time widened in 2003 for the first time in four years as women saw their incomes fall, the government said Thursday.

For every dollar a man made in 2003, women made 75.5 cents, the Census Bureau said in its annual report on income. That was down from the record 76.6 cents that women earned vs. men's $1 in 2002. The median income for men working full time in 2003 was $40,668, not significantly different from the prior year, while the median income for women working full time was $30,724, down 0.6% from 2002.

While the drop might appear minor, it was the first statistically significant decline in women's incomes since 1995, the Census Bureau said.

The median is the point at which half of the numbers fall above and half fall below.

The widening pay disparity came as a surprise, and analysts had few explanations for what could have sparked the change. But they cautioned against getting too worked up about the increased gap, noting last year could have been an aberration... [read more at usatoday.com]

[DivaJen]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

But they cautioned against getting too worked up about the increased gap,

So can we get too worked up that a gap exists at all?

[crosses]

Originally Posted by DivaJen

So can we get too worked up that a gap exists at all?

ditto.

[MargaretKur]

We all should be worked up over it! It's against the law, remember!

Yesterday I read in a professional organization's newsletter about the average pay for workers. It was the usual comparison article: according to geographical region, according to credentials, according to job title, etc.

The profession has long been a female-dominated one. Only in recent years have men started to work in this field, but when I looked at the comparison of wages between men and women doing the same job with the same credentials, guess what? The pay for men was about 20% higher than for women! I really got upset when I saw that. What upsets me even more is that in most cases, women have more seniority in those jobs than men!

Many of these jobs are in institutions which have graded job levels with starting wages/salaries and annual evaluations based on a point system. One company's system only allows a maximum 3% raise. There are no cost-of-living increases.

In a setting like this, how can there be such a disparity between men's and women's pay? Employers are breaking the company's rules and thereby breaking the law.

Why do companies discourage employees from discussing their wages or salaries? Some even threaten them with termination if they're "caught" discussing such a verboten subject! The only reason I can think of is that they don't want people to know the truth of what's been going on for years. Discussing pay isn't a crime, but unequal pay is!

If employers paid everyone equally and fairly, according to the law rather than by gender or by favoritism, they would feel no need for secrecy, would they???

I'm tired of the secrecy. As I said, if things are done honestly, fairly, and lawfully there would be no need for secrets and no disparities in pay.

Well, back from my dreamland, I guess. Unless the government requires audits for company payrolls and justification for such pay discrepancies, I don't see where there will be an end to it.

Does anyone else think employers should have to justify disparities in pay?

Does anyone else think employers must not be permitted to be able to penalize or terminate employees who "dare to compare" such things as pay? To me, it's the same as retaliation against whistleblowers.

[PrincessPerky]

While I am certain there are circumstances where the disparity in pay is purely prejudice on the part of the employer, I am also certain that many statistics give a misleading figure.

For example sometimes when figuring the national average pay for a women they often include part time and stay home moms. I certainly make less than most men I know, considering I am a home mom. So I make zero for every dollar my husband makes. That doesn't appear to be the case in this survey as it said 'employed fulltime '

Also there is the demand factor. Many men are willing to go demand a higher salary while many women are often willing to accept the company’s policy of 3% cross the board wage.

And the statistics have difficulty taking into effect the actual job done. For example most wait staff at cheap restaurants are women, while most wait staff at very expensive restaurants are men. No judging her, just stating a fact. This leads to the theory that waitresses make less than waiters. But they are in different tip ranges.

Also many women are a bit altruistic, they are more willing to work in the poor rural communities, maybe being a doctor when the pay is often a bag of zucchini. Leading to the theory that all women Drs make less.

Specialization, women tend to gravitate away from specialization, prolly due to the genetics involved in being a good mother, good mothers can do it all . But specialists make more money.

Or when a woman goes into a special field they do so knowing it well cost less to train them, which in turn leaves them with less income compared to a man, for example midwifery. I use a midwife because; well how on earth can a man know what labor is like anyway! But it is also cheaper. So my midwife gets less money than my ob-gyny would. Sorry. That goes along with the altruistic thing, Midwives could unite and decide to charge the same as ob-gyns, but that wouldn't be in the best interest of pregnant women.

There are many legitimate reasons for a woman to make less than a man. The serious cases of prejudice should be looked into, and punishment meted out, but the simple cases of a woman choosing to make less should not be used to fuel the fire.

In the case of not discussing employee pay, it is because then people would have reason to ask for more money, IE Joe makes x amount why don't I? Reason, Joe asked for x +5 but we negotiated down. If everyone knew what everyone made then employers would either have to put a stop to demand raises completely or give them cross the board, which one do you think a profit minded company is going to do?

In the case of that particular industry, please go look into filing an official complaint with HR, and then follow up. The government does take action if complaints are filed. Although you need a specific company, so say your looking at teachers you can't file a complaint with all schools, you need to go look school by school to see if there is a disparity. Then you need to ask every teacher if they asked for raises or not. Then file your complaint.