tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post5588535084201879901..comments2023-10-07T22:37:49.244+13:00Comments on The Hand Mirror: But women just get paid less because they are less skilled don't they?katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-75560401047446660532009-06-12T08:54:31.441+12:002009-06-12T08:54:31.441+12:00Of course the next question will remain unanswered...Of course the next question will remain unanswered but is probably the most pertinent.<br /><br />Of those woman who earn "..18,000 less than their male counterparts.." and are "...highly skilled at maths and reading.." how many in percentage terms work the same hours as men.SimonDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-86249383679493858862008-09-30T14:02:00.000+13:002008-09-30T14:02:00.000+13:00Spam, I think the point is that if a job is female...Spam, I think the point is that if a job is female-dominated, it is inevitably valued less and paid less. If engineering suddenly became a female-dominated field and, say, early childhood education was 95% men, I bet you could watch the wage patterns reverse. It happened with secretarial work (the 'pink collar revolution' of the early 20th century) and it doesn't seem to be particularly different nowadays.Daniellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03896817139131485525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-29188062333666842532008-09-30T13:44:00.000+13:002008-09-30T13:44:00.000+13:00So should women have to change jobs into something...So should women have to change jobs into something more highly valued but with the same skill level, and just accept that the work they love which is low paid is just always going to be that way?<BR/><BR/>My observation is that if we want to get women's wages up one of the key things that we could do is encourage men into the traditional areas of women's work.Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08977150346842277994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-11986900396272900342008-09-30T13:24:00.000+13:002008-09-30T13:24:00.000+13:00I work as an engineer (which is a high mathematics...I work as an engineer (which is a high mathematics / technical / science discipline), managing a team of 6, 3 of which are women (and it used to be 4 of 6). Pay scales are set based on experience, with a performance-based pay element. Recently, its been the women who have been better performing.<BR/><BR/>I draw my staff from people doing chemical engineering at university, where over half the class is female (although in other engineering disciplines, the ratio of females is much, much lower). <BR/><BR/>Ie - this suggests that at least in my field, if women are happy to do "men's work", they'll get paid as much as men. The pay disparity is not about what skills any particular gender has, but in how they choose to employ those skills.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com