Women are 97% of babysitters hired, but feminists are outraged that men charge $0.50 more an hour

No0neEver · 2014-03-18T22:39:17+00:00

A study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research

couldn't possibly be biased

Popeychops · 2014-03-18T22:55:58+00:00

going to the source article here because feministing and the atlantic are gunning for drama and traffic:

http://priceonomics.com/the-babysitting-gender-gap/

first off, the results aren't presented very well. one of the commentors there noticed that the pay grades are rounded to the nearest 50 cents in the results. for all we know, male and female babysitters only have a 1 cent difference in average pay. anyone that understands statistics would understand that there really isn't any significant difference in these pay grades, but pundits are well known for intentionally twisting stats to push an agenda. it's basically their job.

if you read through this, you actually see a lot of discrimination against male babbysitters:

Almost none of the babysitters were men. You might not find that surprising. What we found shocking is that we almost didn't even notice this gender disparity. Our bias that a “babysitter should be female” was so strong that we paged through hundreds of profiles without noticing that we didn’t see any men.

.

How strong is this bias against male babysitters? Let’s look at the babysitting website Sittercity.com. By default, the company only shows female babysitters in their search results. Unless you physically go into advanced search settings and change the gender to “either” or “male,” you won’t see any men in your search results. When is the last time you toggled through advanced search settings? To their credit, Care.com, another large babysitting website, shows male and female profiles in their search results.

.

“I personally would have a hard time hiring a male babysitter for obvious reasons. The question though is how fair is that?”

-Katherine, Mother in a Parenting Forum

holy jesus of internalized misandry. what obvious reasons?

dejour · 2014-03-18T22:18:14+00:00

You know, looking at their city data, every city is rounded to the nearest 50 cents per hour.

So that suggests to me that the 50 cent difference between boys and girls might well be rounding error. (eg. the real numbers are $14.80 versus $14.70 and they got rounded to $15 vs $14.50)

Trunk-Monkey · 2014-03-18T21:45:06+00:00

If I were to even consider working as a baby sitter I would indeed charge more… why? base rate + hazard pay And given the risk of a man being accused of inappropriate behavior when alone with kids, hazard pay is completely appropriate!

2014-03-18T22:09:11+00:00

Remember guys, when the female 5% in a job make an additional 10% of their wage in bonuses over the men doing that job, because they're female it's empowering and a step towards equality! When a small portion of males make a little bit more than an overwhelming amount of women doing that job it's an outrage.

russkov · 2014-03-18T21:28:12+00:00

Aren't the wages for baby sitting negotiated between the parent and the baby sitter? I'm pretty sure this is the case, so it's not like there's some kind of conspiracy to make men earn more than women in babysitting.

Also this quoted comment pissed me off

“I personally would have a hard time hiring a male babysitter for obvious reasons.”

Please, what are these obvious reasons you cunt?

McFeely_Smackup · 2014-03-19T00:52:01+00:00

If lead than 3% off babysitters are men, then right off the bat I'm pretty sure their sample size is statistically insignificant. How many male babysitters did they survey?

tectonic9 · 2014-03-19T02:54:36+00:00

In fairness, the article highlights how ridiculous it is that people are more reluctant to hire male babysitters. Sure, the author ends it by spinning it into their universal victim narrative, but they do make the necessary points about the 97% before they get there.

KngpinOfColonProduce · 2014-03-19T06:22:37+00:00

Discrimination in wages by sex require a discriminator. Those wages, if I understand correctly, are set up by the babysitter. Hire at that rate or don't. There is no boogeyman paying these women less.

That pedophile hysteria, though, that's sexist.

2014-03-19T01:11:08+00:00

I'd imagine the extra fee is our surcharge for not molesting the children.

kkjdroid · 2014-03-19T02:21:18+00:00

Hey, maybe parents are 100% rational consumers and always pick the lower-priced services.

Flaghammer · 2014-03-19T04:33:49+00:00

Wouldn't the rarity of male babysitters explain the higher cost? That they can get more says that they are worth more to the buyers, who presumably wanted a male over the more plentiful female babysitters.

Ironhigh · 2014-03-19T10:35:07+00:00

Aren't men physically stronger than women? Isn't a huge advantage to have someone that can protect your kid from a robber or a random crazy person, instead of a thin high school girl?

In fact, I find it impressive that this wage gap is just about 50 cents/hr.

JaydenPope · 2014-03-19T02:16:55+00:00

This makes feminists more whiney than usually cause they are bitching about a minority group of babysitters.

Personally i'd not either either gender unless they met my expectations. You can't trust anyone with your kid unless they come with several recommendations and a squeaky clean record.

SarahC · 2014-03-19T05:57:39+00:00

Danger money for peadophilia acusations?

2014-03-19T07:50:34+00:00

And it’s not just babysitting — gender wage gaps persist in most traditionally feminized jobs. Men who enter these industries — which they are increasingly doing these days – tend to make more money and be promoted at faster rates. A study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that in the female-dominated worlds of administrative assistants, teachers, and nurses, women make about 10 percent less than their male colleagues.

Ya maybe because those industries are wanting men more due to less women going into such fields (lack of labor pool) and in order to attack the men they are paying more and at that more likely to promote them as well. But hey lets ignore the economics as then our uh position won't hold water.

HealingCare · 2014-03-19T10:09:15+00:00

My interpretation of the numbers is that for 1 USD a man makes from babysitting, women make 32.3 USD. amirite

GreatJanitor · 2014-03-19T11:02:36+00:00

There are male babysitters???

Emperor_NOPEolean · 2014-03-19T13:31:08+00:00

If you want more, ask for more. Isn't it a proven statistic that men are more likely to haggle for pay, benefits, etc?

2014-03-19T14:51:00+00:00

I've noticed that fellow myself & male colleagues are much more aggressive in pay scale than female colleagues. Perhaps we don't MAKE more; but ASK for more? Tech, babysitting - same thing.

memetherapy · 2014-03-19T00:11:26+00:00

[permanently deleted]

knowless · 2014-03-19T05:05:33+00:00

[permanently deleted]

tallwheel · 2014-03-19T06:22:08+00:00

Damn you pay gap!!! Is there nowhere women can be equal?! /s

Fhwqhgads · 2014-03-19T12:28:15+00:00

It's not 100% female yet, so they need to keep whining and screeching.

BrennanDobak · 2014-03-19T15:37:09+00:00

What I want to know is how male teachers make 10% more than female teachers? Every school district in my state (Texas) has a chart clearly stating what 1st year teachers through 20th year teachers make as an annual salary posted on their websites. None of them offer a 10% bonus for dong wielders.

dakdego · 2014-03-19T17:43:52+00:00

STANDARD DEVIATION AND ANOVA! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LEARN STATISTICS!

gaylemcd · 2014-03-18T22:33:41+00:00

Subtle distinction. It sounds like the point the author was making was the things that create a pay gap (negotiation, etc) persist even when the bias should favor women. That is, the "outrage" (which, by the way, is one feminist -- does the worst, most ridiculous comment here speak for all MRAs?) is not as much that female babysitters are underpaid but that the factors that (arguably) create a pay gap are still there.

Don't you think that's interesting? Not necessarily unjust. Just interesting.

knowless · 2014-03-19T04:06:18+00:00

The beautiful thing about America, being a man or a woman, you are only worth what you can negotiate for. It really is that simple.

altmehere · 2014-03-19T18:57:33+00:00

It's also interesting to note that without knowing how many hours this group works, the male babysitters could still be making less despite making more per hour. Perhaps these men know their market, and instead of trying to undercut or equal women in pay, they charge more knowing that male babysitters are hired for a particular reason - perhaps to serve as a male role model.

Idk about anyone else, but I'd rather get paid $.50 less per hour if it meant working enough hours to more than make up for the lower wage.

No0neEver · 2014-03-18T22:37:16+00:00

That number seems incredibly high. I remember growing up in an area where babysitters were split pretty evenly along gender lines

Title	Women are 97% of babysitters hired, but feminists are outraged that men charge $0.50 more an hour
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	261
Comments	97
Date	March 18, 2014 9:19 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/20r3bi/women_are_97_of_babysitters_hired_but_feminists/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/women-are-97-of-babysitters-hired-but-feminists.1002615 https://theredarchive.com/post/1002615

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