Business Pundit links to some very interesting news:
Women held 49.83% of the nation’s 132 million jobs in June and they’re gaining the vast majority of jobs in the few sectors of the economy that are growing, according to the most recent numbers available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the current pace, women will become a majority of workers in October or November.
This will be the first time in American history that there are more women than men in the workforce. In other news, women still make 77% of what men make.
except in Vermont
Don’t forget the second shift!
It’s best to indicate how you are measuring that 77%. Is that over a lifetime? Which industries? Does it take into account the time off that women take for giving birth?
It’s easy for people who don’t agree with these statistics to bomb them if we don’t provide rigorous proof.
“This will be the first time in American history that there are more women than men in the workforce. In other news, women still make 77% of what men make.”
Don’t you think there may be a connection?
Well, I suppose you do since you phrased it that way… everybody else, though? Is my boss reading this?
It should be noted, women make considerably less in certain sectors and industries. That statistic is very misleading, and doesn’t account for top paying jobs, such as executives, that skews that number.
@6 should read: women make considerably MORE in certain sectors and industries. It’s after 9 A.M., so obviously I’m drunk and unable to post
If they make less, that explains why business want to hire them 🙁 sad state of nasty capitalism
Oh, God. Not again. That whole 77% theory is a false statistic that gets bandied about so much people have come to accept it as truth. Next thing you know you’ll be saying Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet, Obama’s a Kenyan-born muslim, and wife beating goes up 400% after the Super Bowl.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/article…
Yep it sucks, I work with mostly all women and I just started to make as much as they do, in an office setting. I’ve been here almost as long as they have, all three women bosses really pull it down too, 3 weeks paid vacy with an optional two weeks unpaid, with the multiple sick/salon afternoons/days off every month its really starting to be a fucking drag on my self-esteem. Its hard enough to get a half-day off to go see the dentist without a joking comment or two from at least one of them. They wanted to get into the workplace and here we are. I know it was a hella hard push but it seems like some women (like my bosses and most of the coworkers) who have made it up have became just like the men they sought to replace…seeing them shit all over the servers–mostly female–at lunch this summer has forced me to bail on lunchtime with them, and further socializing.. it just broke my heart…especially since the new nice hire has become so influenced that now she’s become an unbearable cad. Too bad I’m stuck with too much debt to bail on this scene….for now.
Oh no, the 77% statistic. Invariably, this eventually gets used to imply “A woman gets paid 77% of what a man does for doing the same work”, and this is simply not true. Studies that have actually tried to adjust for profession and working hours and other factors have found a gender gap as well, but a much smaller one.
It should be pointed out that female adult film stars invariably make much, much more than their male counterparts. The lesson? Get into porn, ladies!
if women could get parthenogenesis working, they wouldn’t need us around at all anymore.
how’s that coming, lady scientists?
I’m so sick of people (men, perhaps?) trying to debunk the consistent statistic of women getting paid less than men. It’s a fact, OK? There are many reasons why it’s a fact—society, men AND women are to blame—but it is a fact. Accept it.
I get paid considerably more than the men in my office. My boss said they had more experience when they got hired 2 years ago (I’ve been there 11), plus they are both married w/ children and I’m not.
Every woman I know has always been paid less than men (except in the restaurant/service industry) and I’ve always been harassed by male bosses (although much less now than in the 80s/90s). Whenever I’ve demanded raises it’s been incremental compared to what men get. I’m over being angry about it, but it’s a fact. (And I’m a great worker w/ lots of responsibility, not a loser/slacker). So unless you are a woman, please shut up about “qualifying” this statistic. Some of us live with it.
“So unless you are a woman, please shut up about “qualifying” this statistic. Some of us live with it. “
Um … sorry, no. No. Because as long as the statistic is going to be misused, I’m going to call you on it. There are a lot of factors involved beyond discrimination. You know that in some major cities, including the one I live in, women are making significantly _more_ than men on average now? Horrors! I should complain of discrimination!
http://www.nytimes.com/20 07/08/03/nyregion/03women.ht ml?_r=1
(remove spaces in URL)
I’m astounded that there is such doubt overthe 77% statistic. I didn’t know the appalling gap between men’s and women’s salaries was news. The best place to find good research on this is here: http://www.catalyst.org/page/75/informat…
By the way, Seattle is a bit of a liberal utopia compared to the majority of the US, or the world for that matter. So posters here might not realise that this inequality is no myth.
As for the whole argument that it comes from men and women getting different pay for the exact same work, I don’t think this is the main issue. I think it is more that the whole structure of work has been designed by men, for men. The hours you have to put in to be CEO are much easier if you have a little wifey at home doing all your laundry. Add to that the fact that men are socialised to compete more, and women to co-operate more, who do you think is going to have an edge in the heirarchical corporate world.
Well, if you ladies would just work a little bit (23%) harder…