(Will need to register to read this)
An interesting read, again poking at certain bits of "common knowledge." Amongst other things, it shows:
- Men earn more because they work more
- Men earn more because they take the riskier jobs
- Men and women tend to work for different reasons (and even the deviations have patterns to them...)
- What "the same job" is, is often a bit too widely defined to make sense
- When EVERYTHING is made equal, women earn more than men. This actual difference in earnings I call the "Childbearer's Premium," meaning extra pay for attention not given to children.
The importance of this is such that many women married to upper-class men have turned their backs to the working world to raise their children, causing many academic feminists to wring their hands in confusion. They expected these women to monopolize the CEO, CFO and other leadership positions in America's corporations; when in fact many women would rather choose motherhood over the working world.
Thing is, I've always thought this "women earn 76 cents for every buck men earn" as a distortion of the truth. A bit TOO simple for my tastes.
For me, the main reason was always that women could turn to raising kids, and the man would have to dedicate himself more fully to the job to compensate. I've seen this happen twice, from both perspectives.
In once case, a female friend of mine talked about her life after having kids. She talked about her dreams, and how she found herself giving up on them so she could focus on raising her children.
And the other case? My brother, who has felt the need to go to extremes so he could earn enough for him, his wife and their children. Fact is, the woman isn't about to find work.
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