Posted on 04/12/2011 4:34:40 AM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds
Tuesday is Equal Pay Day—so dubbed by the National Committee for Pay Equity, which represents feminist groups including the National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, the National Council of Women's Organizations and others. The day falls on April 12 because, according to feminist logic, women have to work that far into a calendar year before they earn what men already earned the year before.
In years past, feminist leaders marked the occasion by rallying outside the U.S. Capitol to decry the pernicious wage gap and call for government action to address systematic discrimination against women. This year will be relatively quiet. Perhaps feminists feel awkward protesting a liberal-dominated government—or perhaps they know that the recent economic downturn has exposed as ridiculous their claims that our economy is ruled by a sexist patriarchy.
The unemployment rate is consistently higher among men than among women. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 9.3% of men over the age of 16 are currently out of work. The figure for women is 8.3%. Unemployment fell for both sexes over the past year, but labor force participation (the percentage of working age people employed) also dropped. The participation rate fell more among men (to 70.4% today from 71.4% in March 2010) than women (to 58.3% from 58.8%). That means much of the improvement in unemployment numbers comes from discouraged workers—particularly male ones—giving up their job searches entirely.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I was a department head of a large Information Technology department. My highest paid, most skilled employees were women. Most women did not want to be section heads or department heads; consequently, we often had men managing women who were paid more than their bosses.
One way a wage disparity creeps into the picture: You hire two programmers, a man and a woman who are equally skilled to do the same job and you start them at the same wage. For the first few years, they perform equally and get equal raises. Then, the woman drops out of the work force for three or four years to have a baby and raise the child. When she returns to work, she has fallen behind the technology curve and will be paid less than the guy who has added value to his work skills while she was at home nurturing a child. Most women — but not NOW — recognize this fact.
My unemployed wife just received two job offers—one for $95K as an HR manager and one part-time job that pays $16K working for a school district. She took the part-time job. Why? We are in our 50’s, the kids are grown, the house is almost paid off and I work full time. She doesn’t want the stress, that’s my job.
You’re exactly right—and I’m a woman who did just that. While I was taking the bar exam, I was pregnant with my first child, and I stayed home with both of my children.
ML/NJ
Pinging an article for you.
Carrie Lukas BUMP! :)
“Few Americans see the economy as a battle between the sexes. They want opportunity to abound so that men and women can find satisfying work situations that meet their unique needs. That—not a day dedicated to manufactured feminist grievances—would be something to celebrate.”
We’re all Free Agents, and have been all along. I loathe FemiNazies in all of their insidious forms.
It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it! What DO these women accomplish, aside from tearing at the fabric of our Society? And to what end? (Rhetorical - I know their game plan!)
Perhaps your wife took the part-time job so that she can devote time to keeping up on the housework and planning ways to make your life wonderful....
...I stayed home with both of my children.
***
And your children’s well being is far more important than any pay scale, which you apparently realize. Good for you.
Most honest women realize this. There are alot of women who seem to like to repeat the myth just for the sake of having something to whine about.
I “dropped out” to raise kids and will probably return to the workforce within the next 2 yrs. I will have to take some courses just to brush up and will be back to entry level positions.
Once I become established, I’m still not going to go after jobs that require too much because I will still have to be available to my kids after school and on weekends.
I am not ever going to fulfill this feminist dream of “making it in a man’s world” and that is aok with me.
I belonged to a women’s business group. This organization’s national leadership was promoting the “Equal Pay Day.” Having worked with many types of businesses over several years, logic told me that this disparity was not caused by discrimination. Based mainly upon Independent Women’s Forum information, I gave a presentation to the group about the fallacy of the unequal pay myth. Several thanked me. No one had ever questioned it before. (Some whined about how true it was. Each one was a disorganized, poorly groomed idividual. Single and childless, too.)
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