Wage gap. why?

Stratisphear · 2012-10-26T20:22:10+00:00

There is a wage gap. Women do make 77% (or somewhere around there) what men make, and studies continuously back that up. But people see that and think "DISCRIMINATION!!!" when it's actually because women choose career paths and life paths that make less than men.

loganizer · 2012-10-26T20:33:04+00:00

"There isn't discrimination at my place of work, therefore wage discrimination doesn't happen anywhere."

Is that your argument or am I missing something?

2012-10-26T20:00:44+00:00

People believe information the information they are told by authority figures. This "fact" has been spread by parents, colleges, teachers and the president of the united states. People are not naturally critical.

mythin · 2012-10-26T20:53:59+00:00

I work at a 7-eleven and make $8.30 an hour, for about 40 hours a week or more. there's a woman minal who works here, an guess what she makes. $8.30 an hour.

Well, your anecdote isn't really evidence of anything. Now, your anecdote does happen to line up well with statistics from neutral sources, but by itself doesn't offer support for anything.

Do the feminist sheep really think that women go into a job, and are blatantly paid less than a man is, or are they willingly overlooking different factors like maternity leave?

Other than your rather inflammatory (if sometimes accurate) use of the word sheep, it's more complicated than that.

Now, I don't agree with this, but the position I've heard is that, yes, the gap may be explained by other factors, but those factors only exist because women are discriminated against. Such as:

Lower pay for maternity leave - Well, why is the woman expected to take time off to parent, but the man isn't? Or why is something from biology being used to treat a woman more negatively.

For that one, notice that it's always about the woman? It's never about treating a man more positively because of greater experience, it's about how the woman is treated worse. They mean the same thing objectively, but they paint a very different subjective picture.

Women don't work the more dangerous jobs - Well, why are women being excluded from these jobs in the first place? Clearly there's discrimination in hiring practices or job requirements (see: firefighters and physical requirements being lowered to accomodate women).

For that one, if you point how women aren't even applying, you'll get:

Women aren't applying to higher paying jobs - Why are women being discouraged from a young age to shy away from these jobs?

For that last one, it actually is sort of a decent point, but focusing so much on the wage gap is entirely a red herring. Also, many of these higher paying jobs are more dangerous, and it's been shown that women are not primarily motivated by higher pay, but by a better work/life balance. Now, it's my opinion that men would actually love to be motivated by that same balance, but there's a strong pressure out there, from both men and women, for men to be big earners.

See how a simple opinion magically turns the wage gap from a discrimination against women problem to a discrimination against men problem? There isn't a wage gap because women are discriminated against, there's a wage gap because women, socially, have more options open to them then men.

Whether or not I actually believe that, it shows pretty strongly how the raw data can be interpreted in completely opposite ways purely based on a single viewpoint, one which is largely unfalsifiable.

Just, who the fuck would actually think this is a proven fact?

It's not about the facts, because the facts are that there is a wage gap. It's about interpreting those facts and the question of "why." Feminists have a tendency to view "why" in a complete different way than most people here. A way that I, personally, believe is wrong. And while my belief is a belief, it's been backed up by a number of meta studies.

Do be careful about being so dismissive, because whether or not you agree with them, feminism has a lot of social and political power. If you dismiss them, you sound like a nutter. If you carefully dismantle their arguments or show the flaws in their thinking, it becomes much easier to get your own point across.

mythin · 2012-10-26T19:32:17+00:00

Someone who desperately needs it to be true to validate their existence. Its strange to me why feminists and religious extremists don't get along better, they are so similar in so many ways...

mythin · 2012-10-26T20:16:28+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Title	Wage gap. why?
Author	madarapt1
Upvotes	1
Comments	26
Date	October 26, 2012 5:55 PM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/124uic/wage_gap_why/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/wage-gap-why.1010483 https://theredarchive.com/post/1010483

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