What would it mean if there weren't a $10,662 wage gap?
For Tuesday's Fair Pay Day we're blogging about the gender wage gap. Looking to brainstorm other perspectives on this issue. What do you think it would mean if there weren't a $10,662 wage gap?
Women working full-time, year-round are paid only about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. In 2008, this meant the average "wage gap" was $10,622. For women of color, the numbers are even worse: African-American women earn 62 cents and Latinas earn 53 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Latino men.
What would it mean if this wage gap didn't exist -- if, on the average, women were paid as much as men?
http://www.pay-equity.org/info-time.html
Clarification added April 20, 2010:
Thanks for your answers, please share more.
Here is our blog post on this topic: http://www.qworky.com/blog/2010/04/what-would-it-mean-if-women-were-paid-as-much-as-men/ encourage you to do the same.
Answers (7)
Jennifer D.
As the SheEO, I'm obsessed with achieving gender balanced leadership and Australia's thought leader on gender diversity
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This is such an important question – not just in the United States but all over the world. In Australia, women are paid approximately 77% of what men are, and would have to work another 63 days a year to earn the same wage as their male counterparts.
Having worked as a woman in senior management, and now running a consulting company advising employers of similar senior women, I think that if the wage gap didn’t exist, if women were paid as much as men we would see more women taking up the top jobs; more engagement between corporations and our communities and more effective organisation management and ultimately greater shareholder returns. The bottom line benefits of gender diversity are almost undisputed, and equal pay would enable more women to develop their careers further.
Not only that, by placing equal financial value on men and women’s work, it would stamp out the inbuilt misogynistic attitudes still prevalent at the top in so many organisations. And by valuing women’s work properly, we’d have to take the long overdue look at how female friendly our work places are, and make the changes and specific actions necessary for women to be able to balance their careers with their lives.
What would it mean? It would probably mean that the labor force are robots. To me, it means that statistics like these are meaningless and used by others for manipulation (like lobbying).
First of all, job equity is more than wages, for example, location, colleagues, and flexible work schedules are a form of compensation that is not accounted for in statistics. However, employees that benefit from alternative compensation are less likely to shop around for the highest wage.
Second, how can there be a discriminating wage-bias when women and minorities own the businesses? This generation has educated an entrepreneurial-minded group of women with the stimulus and legislative support to promote rapid development of women-owned businesses. Women are also being encouraged back into the workforce by human capital teams.
Third, what is the statistical error? Less than $10k?
Finally, consider that some women can take up to 10 years leave from work (to raise a family) and still maintain a competitive wage within 10% of their colleagues!
Frank F.
►CEO/Bd Director ►IT Governance Advisor ►Future-Proof Strategy ►Keynotes ►Inno-Change ►Social Media Mktg ►China Advisor
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I agree with Jennifer and totally disagree with Stephen.
There answers illustrate the prevailing polarity mindset.
If we had pay equity, we would have a more equitable world.
The best-qualified candidates would be recruited and promoted.
But you would have more women promoted to higher levels
because they often are now held back in lower positions, due to
their pay scale.
Organizations would have healthier cultures. They surely would
be less macho. And they would better match their marketplace.
As a result, organizations would be more successful if they
paid women equitably. They would grow faster and profits would
be higher, despite the higher labor cost.
Mike M.
LTE Project Manager at WesTower Communications
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It would mean that women weren't having babies or staying home to raise their kids more than men. It would also mean that there are fewer single moms.
Those three situations tend to drive down womens' pay because they spend less time (on average) in the workforce than their male counterparts. As a result they don't have the same opportunities to progress.
And with time off for raising families (yes, I know more women are not continuing to be stay-at-home moms, but many still are), there is less opportunity to build on skills and momentum in climbing into higher responsibility (and thus higher paying) jobs.
I don't think we'll ever get to full equality there (other than pay based on results as it pretty much is now)...and if we do, society may pay the price in our childrens' futures.
I'm with Jennifer and Frank here.
Stephen and Mike, the data is pretty clear. Here's what Nancy M. Carter and Christine Silva had to say in a recent HBR article (see link below).
Even after adjusting for years of work experience, industry, and region, Catalyst found that men started their careers at higher levels than women. And that isn’t because women don’t aspire to the top—the finding holds when you include only women and men who say they’re aiming for senior executive positions. It’s not a matter of parenthood slowing women’s careers, either. Among women and men without children living at home, men still started at higher levels.
jon
Links:
Your question seems to presume that the gap in earnings between men and women is due to gender alone. This is not the case. Much of the gap in earnings between men and women is due to other factors such as industry, job functions, and length of continuous service. However, gender, race, and other non-job related factors remain a contributing factor.
There is something that we can do to help those who have been victims of unfair discrimination. We need to make it unlawful to require candidates to provide their previous salaries or salary expectations on job applications. This will give them a better opportunity to negotiate a more equitable salary for the jobs they accept.
Maria M.
Strategic Business Advisor from Planning to Execution, Speaker, Trained Life Coach, For Financial Advisors & Accountants
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The gender gap isn't what is reported. There is so much missing from it. I recommend reading the book Why Men Earn More by Warren Farrell, former NOW president.
It's mind opening, interesting and yes, controversial
