Women and the Wage Gap Redux
Until I came across this blog by Cathy Arnst on BusinessWeek.com. Clicking through BW's work-family blogs, I noticed that very few columns prompt more than a sprinkling of comments, but Arnst's columns on the wage gap got all the angry men out in force, busy typing away.
It's interesting, but a little scary, to see how much vitriol some men feel when it comes to talking about discrimination against women in the workplace.
Stumble It!
posted by pam at 1:33 PM
3 Comments:
Perhaps some of that vitriol is a reflection of the huge wall of silence faced by men who attempt to gain equality for their gender in many other walks of life.
It's interesting, but a little scary, to see how easily women dismiss men’s rights, particularly when it comes to the basics of opinion and freedom of speech.
It seems you have to be the correct gender to have a creditable opinion.
In what country, are men denied the right to voice their opinion? Look at the news shows, and the editorial boards of most newspapers in this country, not to mention most web sites and pundits, and you'll find men are still dominating the top ranks.
You label men’s freedom of speech as "Nasty and plain old Misogynistic". In doing so, you are trying to automatically label men who speak out as such. This is negatively stereotyping men who disagree with women. So to answer your post, in THIS country, there is negative pressure on men's freedom of speech.
Could you point out what is nasty and misogynistic about this response, since you were not able to post a constructive reply to it.
Pam - Frustration can look a lot like anger. Are YOU indignant about wage gap studies that show no discrimination, other than a small amount in FAVOR of women? I would hope not.
The frustration is not the appearance of the studies, Pam, it is the misuse of them. For example, the AAUW study admits that 80% of the $0.20 pay gap is accounted for by non-discriminatory factors. Yet in their call for remedial action, they repeatedly refer to closing the $0.20 gap - not the four cent gap that is unexplained. Pam, do YOU think "four cents" when you think of the unfair pay gap, or do you think "twenty cents"?
And honestly, the four cents is only ASSUMED to be due to discrimination - that is exactly what AAUW said in their report, because, try as they might, they could find no evidence of a discriminatory factor involved, nor could the census bureau in their report.
So Pam, here is the frustrating part: People like you ignore all of these things and go right on crying "Twenty percent pay gap!! Discrimination!!" as if they heard nothing at all. If any of this is incorrect, for God's sake point out the flaws. Show us how the four cent gap is really larger. Show us how discrimination is REALLY at work here, in spite of AAUW being unable to find any. Explain to us. Don't ignore, and then act puzzled at the frustration you see. I invite you to be the first feminist writer to actually respond to the facts, rather than continue to shout the hyperbole.
My question for you is, why are you so determined to be a certified victim, even to the point of ignoring all evidence that, at least in this area, you are clearly not one?
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