While i’m sure some disparity exists due to bigotry the issue is actually generational. If you go back 30-40 years ago most women had lower paying jobs because that’s what they went for. Secretarial and the like. Hence men had an advantage in pay due to the particular job they performed. As more women entered the workforce in a greater variety of jobs that began to change. That still left men with an advantage but this one was of time which equates to seniority. As older men retire the wage disparity will take care of itself.
Rather than address an old pay issue that’s resolving itself why doesn’t old Valerie face one that is ongoing today? I would very much like to be paid like a government employee with all the perks and benefits they enjoy well after retirement.
“If you go back 30-40 years ago most women had lower paying jobs because that’s what they went for. Secretarial and the like.”
If you read the article closely, you’ll notice they is exactly what they’re trying to ‘fix’. What they want to do is to define various job categories dominated by women as ‘comparable’ to others dominated by men.
IOW, a teacher’s pay should be comparable to an ‘engineer’ since both require a college degree.
“Rather than address an old pay issue that’s resolving itself ...”
It’s more than jist resolving itself.
When a study a few years ago looked at engineers hired circa 1970 they found that the females WHO NEVER LEFT THE PROFESSION were making the same money that the males were.
Me? I’d call that resolved.
You are neglecting the effect of career interruption due to child bearing and rearing. Or, maybe you're not, but the statistics are.
When a person exits the workforce for a period of years and then returns, she effectively "loses" some experience. In law, accounting, engineering, and I'm sure other fields, the fields change, and some retraining is necessary to get back up to snuff. I doubt the statistics account for this.
34 years ago I "went for" a management position with a financial institution. A song and dance ensued and I was hired as "the girl" in such a way as to hire me, but not in the position for which I interviewed. Later, my boss admitted I was not originally hired in the management position because I was a female. A couple of years later, the feds stepped in and said there were not enough females in management positions within the company.
Voila, suddenly I was management material and was quickly promoted as the first female to obtain the status of management within the company. During the next year my stats were impeccable, prompting handwritten congratulatory notes from the regional supervisor.
There is a lot more to the story...none of it good.
I was grateful for the promotion at the time, regardless of how it came about. Of course I did not know or care about politics at the time and I vehemently oppose government dictating hiring practices and pay scales.
However, to say "most women went for" menial jobs is not really true. Perhaps it was true 50-60 years ago, before those uppity women felt the need to become doctors, lawyers and financial geniuses.
Women were programmed to know their place in society. They were not granted the right to vote until 1920 … no surprise it took another 50-60 years to be “permitted” to break through the "men only club" with employment opportunities.