Thoughts on Pay Equity
Our political culture insists on dividing people up into groups- then assigning a separate value to each group.
Kids with paper routes are paid less than men.
Take a cross section of people- say your high school class. In that group were super achievers, average students and those who were below average. This was not because some kind of foul play or evil system was at work.
I remember the group being told to sit up straight and pay attention because we would need to have good grades to get into college, or learn a trade in order to provide for ourselves and our families.
The female students weren’t taken aside and given a separate, dumbed down, or weaker message. We were all told we had to take things seriously in order to get ahead in life.
Instead of a high school class, we could take everyone in the state of Maryland and compare their wages to everyone in the state of Oregon- or any two random states. When the wages don’t match- is it because of foul play?
Gender based discrimination is wrong.
The Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act- laws put in place in the 1960’s- make it illegal.
Strong women have an attractive and positive image.
Promoting the idea that women are paid less then men creates the largest possible negative stereotype- assigning a group identity to the largest single group of people short of including all human beings.
Separating people into groups creates an us vs. them division in society.
Women are paid less than men-
For every job where this is true, I can name two jobs where women are paid the same as men.
Women in the Armed Forces-
Yes, women serve admirably in the wartime military.
Yes, there are women who can do anything a man can do.
It's 2009, let’s end institutionalized sexism- where 18 year old men register for the draft and women opt out.
Much talk about the "Glass Ceiling" in our recent presidential primary election- maybe it is time to put equality into action- or release all citizens from any obligation to register for the draft.
I served 20 years in the Marines. I worked with women. Women were my bosses. I worked as a “Lunch Lady” at a local school district. We were all paid the same.
What about the crazy jobs like working in a coal mine, on a fishing boat in Alaska, or working for long periods of time away from home. Shouldn’t more pay come to those who are willing to get further away from some kind of mainstream comfort zone?
It seems like- as time goes on- many jobs (including the US Armed Forces) become something like a giant social services program. Having a family in the military takes you from second class citizen to first class citizen in terms of pay, benefits, reasons to get time off, etc.
Employees are free agents- able to shop around for the best wages, relocate, change jobs, acquire additional training and education, negotiate, etc.
