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

[BlancheSplanchnik]

84. yes, thank you!

Women deliberately choose jobs that pay crap, out of the love in our hearts, while men understand the value of a dollar and hard work, as someone here is trying to claim........ YEESH!!

Two friends of mine are health care workers...one a nurse, the other a home health-care worker. The physical work they have to do, a too-heavy patient load and SHIT PAY drives me up a wall. It's NOT RIGHT!!

It realllly drives me up a wall to read remarks from DUers like that, blaming women and consistently trying to paint men as the wronged party. He also fails to recognize that when a field changes from a male work-force to a female work-force, the pay drops, and men in female-dominated jobs make more than their female coworkers. Female college graduates in careers are promoted less often and for lesser pay increases than their male colleagues. Secretaries used to be male. Telephone operators used to be male. Clerks --clerical workers-- used to be male. Then, in the 19th century, managers realized they could hire droves of women and pay them less for the same work. Voila: pink collar workers.


Here's a snip and link from a specific field, published in a professional e-journal you might find interesting. I thought it was pretty interesting, anyway--especially coming from professionals in a specific field.

http://respiratory-care-sleep-medicine.advanceweb.com/Salary-Information/Salary-Survey/Gender-Gap-Still-Exists.aspx

SALARY SURVEY RESULTS
Gender Gap Still Exists
Ten years ago, male respiratory therapists and sleep professionals outnumbered females by two to one. But the field is no longer a boy's club of medicine. Sixty percent of the profession are women, and an equal percentage of managerial roles are held by females.

But on one measure, women continue to fall short - salary. And the difference is not just a women's issue. "Traditionally, when positions become female-dominated, they become less attractive to men, and the salary goes down," said Page S. Morahan, PhD.

On average, women in the cardiopulmonary field make 87 cents for every dollar men make, according to results from the ADVANCE 2010 Salary Survey. Their hourly wage, $27.69, is almost $10 short of their male colleagues.

"I cannot believe that," said Dawn Short, RRT, of Sheldon, Ill., when she learned of the wage difference. "In this particular job, I thought it would be really equal."

Groups like the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program (ELAM) for Women work to counter that assumption. ELAM for Women strives to promote females to management roles in equal numbers as men.