A Woman’s Lifetime Earnings Lost To Pay Gap Could Feed A Family Of Four For 37 Years

[HiPointDem]

63. Bureau of Labor Statistics says 81%.

"Half of all women working as full-time wage and salary workers earned $669 or more per week in 2010. This median weekly wage was 81.2 percent of that earned by men."

http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/reports/femalelaborforce/

Now factor in the other disparities: women more likely to work in the public sector (18% v. 12%), in service occupations (20% v. 11%), sales (20% v. 11%) and other "pink-collar" jobs (by choice or inertia of tradition), women less likely to work OT, etc. -- and what you have left is something like a 10% or disparity.

The law of the land is equal pay for equal work. That can be gotten around in various ways, but more often in high-paying jobs than in low-paying ones, and more often in private jobs where job descriptions can be tailored or duties added to justify the income of chosen "stars".

Paying women less than men for the same work is not the main reason for male-female wage disparities. Active discrimination against women is not the main reason for the disparities. I'm a woman, btw, one who's been in the workforce 40 years and worked everything from minimum wage to professional jobs, factory jobs to academia. My opinion on the matter and my experience is every bit as valid as any other woman's.

Focusing narrowly on that statistical gap in earnings excludes a wealth of other data points that could be used to make a case for discriminatory practices *favoring* women.

Men's wages at or under the median have been flat since 1973. Women's median wages have increased about 30% -- which means that gains for women at or under the median have all come at the expense of their male compatriots, and the wage "savings" for median workers have all gone to upper income groups.

17% of men in the labor force support children under 18, v. 16% of women. But the earnings gap between full-time moms and dads is *smallest* between black men and women (16%), *largest* between white men and women (and asian men and women) at 27% -- which to my way of thinking indicates more privilege and choice for white & asian women than black women -- not more discrimination, even though the typical reading of this "income gap" would indicate the opposite.






In my opinion this pitting of men v. women is designed to take the focus off the concentration of income and power to the top 20% and above.