Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Two link-worthy posts by Talia bat Pessi

posted by Shira Salamone at 1:36 PM

8 Comments:

Blogger Talia bat Pessi said...

Thanks so much, Shira! Glad you liked. :)

Wed Jan 16, 03:34:00 PM 2013  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

You're welcome, Talia. I'm glad you so often write such interesting posts.

Thu Jan 17, 10:40:00 AM 2013  
Anonymous jdub said...

The problem with the post about the feminization of poverty is that it is misleading. Equal pay laws do nothing, since employers generally pay equally for equal work. The explanation for the pay disparity is that women are more likely to take lower-skilled or part-time work than men. Every law firm I worked at paid men and women equally at all job levels. However, at the last big firm job I had, all but two secretaries were female. Among the associates it was close to 50-50, but the partners were about 65% male. The reason for the disparity was that if you graduate law school at around 25, eight years later (the usual partnership track) you're around 33. Prime fertility time. Many women got pregnant, had kids, and decided to drop out of the rat race.

My wife is a psychologist, but has never worked full time. She got her doctorate after having our first (of many) children. She's just now returning to the workforce after our youngest entered second grade.

My point is merely that laws that mandate equal pay for equal work are silly and give the appearance of doing something without actually doing anything.

And the sad fact is is that people are poorer than they have been because the economy has been in the toilet for the last five years and will likely continue that way for several more.

Fri Jan 18, 11:40:00 AM 2013  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

" . . . laws that mandate equal pay for equal work are silly and give the appearance of doing something without actually doing anything."

I don't see anything silly about equal pay laws, but, on the other hand, you may have at least a partial point about these laws not having a sufficient effect on women's earning power. Much has been written about the need for jobs that actually take parenthood into account, and don't force one to choose between being a good parent and advancing in one's career.

Fri Jan 18, 12:52:00 PM 2013  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

" . . . people are poorer than they have been because the economy has been in the toilet for the last five years and will likely continue that way for several more."

Our son is still in grad school. I certainly hope the economy improves before he gets his Ph.D. and goes job-hunting, but I'm not counting on it. :(

Fri Jan 18, 01:09:00 PM 2013  
Blogger Talia bat Pessi said...

JDub, I agree that existing equal pay laws aren't doing much, considering the huge pay disparity. However, I vehemently disagree that employers generally pay equal pay for equal work. Lilly Ledbetter did the same job as her male counterparts throughout her entire career, and she was paid less simply because of her sex. She's the case everybody knows about, because she fought the pay disparity; how many women are in situations like hers, but don't speak up? We'll never know. But considering women only make 77 cents to the man's dollar, I think there's a lot of women like Ms. Ledbetter out there.

But yes, you're right when you say that a large factor in the gender gap is because women tend to take lower-paying jobs.

I disagree that equal pay laws are a waste of time and simply keep up appearances, though. If employers knew they'd get busted, like in Ledbetter's case, they wouldn't do it.

Sat Jan 19, 06:39:00 PM 2013  
Anonymous jdub said...

"We'll never know. But considering women only make 77 cents to the man's dollar, I think there's a lot of women like Ms. Ledbetter out there."

Fallacy. Hyperbole. Women rarely get paid less for doing the SAME job. And the Lilly Ledbetter act simply provided for a waiver of the statute of limitations, it didn't change the substantive law.

Women are said to earn "77 cents for every dollar a man earns" because they take lower paying jobs, part time jobs, or mommy track jobs. The equal pay laws are window dressing. They're already covered by existing federal and state employment discrimination laws.

And I'm sorry, but everyone has to make choices. I am a partner in a very family friendly law firm and my routine day is close to 11 hours long. That's a choice we made that I would work long hours so we can afford to have my wife not work. There are always trade offs.

Tue Jan 22, 03:38:00 PM 2013  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The poverty gap tracks the marriage gap. College educated people get and stayed married. Less educated people do not get married or get married and divorced.

Single parenthood is VERY expensive and impoverishing. Stable families are able to make the tradeoffs that JDub describes. Unstable families are not.

Our "war on poverty" gives money to single parents, takes money away from married parents. Poorer members of society shunned marriage, and it is no longer a cultural norm.

There certainly are some exceptions with companies paying differently based on gender, but at this point, it's few and far between. It's all "disparate impact" crap now that enriches lawyers that pretend two not-like jobs are alike.

Any pay differential from outright discrimination is small and minute. Society has changed in the past few decades.

Fri Jan 25, 03:37:00 PM 2013  

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