Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Bidness

Blog for Fair Pay Day: What would it mean if there weren't a $10,622 wage gap?


What would it mean? For one thing, it would mean that most women would end up with significantly more retirement savings. After spending months and months watching my mom wade through the mountains of paperwork and administrative obstructionism involved in getting the VA benefits that my grandmother should automatically get based on my grandpa's military service, this seems particularly relevant to me.


Also, it's 420 y'all. Have a good one.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/22/2010

    I think this is one of the invisible results of the mommy-track and the wage gap. In addition to the paycheck you take home, there's a huge difference in your retirement account, but everyone thinks it's OK since you're just going to rely on your husband's pension, right?

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  2. I thought you fools had given up on this tired argument. As we've discussed before, there is voluminous objective proof that if there is any wage gap for truly comparable work between the sexes it is minimal at best.

    I understand you and your readers are at a serious disadvantage as to real world experience but the wage equality thing has been going on in the employment arena for decades. Since by far the majority of Human Resources Directors and VPs of major corporations and in higher education are women do any of you morons think they would allow this type of discrimination to go on for a minute? If you do it just proves, once again, that you don't know what the hell you are talking about.

    If you would step outside your idealized, victimized world view you would see that most if not all of any factual wage discrepancy that truly exists is primarily related to the following circumstances:

    - Pregnancy, birth and raising of children. Easy fix…if you want true wage equality on a personal level don't have kids and commit to working as hard and focused as a comparable man…or find a partner that will position you to do so. Or you could take the currently fashionable approach of expecting more pay for less work because you are mothers. Whatever works and you can get away with I guess.

    - Inability or unwillingness to take on the most dangerous and physically taxing of occupations, many of which are compensated at higher levels. Easy solution here would be to have more women go into high risk occupations like oil field work, construction, demolition, combat and any other high risk gigs that chicks don't like to do because if fucks up their manicures or they might get killed or crippled.

    - In spite of the obvious progress that women have made concerning college attendance, graduation and graduate school attendance it is painfully obvious that women continue to focus upon the social sciences and education as preferred career paths. I may not be very smart, but even I understand that teachers, sociologists, psychologists and any number of other "oligists" don't make shit for money with a BS or BA. Hence the high number of chicks that are getting advanced degrees. What I really love about this argument is that they go into these careers fully knowing that they don't pay shit, then they bitch when they graduate and can't get a fucking job making any more than the nineteen year old chick with the big boobs working at the college bar for tips. It's a fucking amazingly stupid worldview that just gets reinforced by the wage gap bullshit argument that feminists keep spreading. I suggest some of your female fans go talk to some female engineering students about the wage gap and report back.

    - STEM discrimination arguments - will need a dedicated post for this one. I don't have the time or patience for it right now.

    I'd be happy to go fact to fact with any of you goofs that would like to objectively argue the wage gap thing. That said, if you're just going to parrot the standard, feminist wage gap bullshit then save it for the college freshmen that actually might believe your propaganda.

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  3. Thanks for mansplaining that Burn. Your behavior on this blog provides daily proof for any number of feminist arguments. It's much appreciated.

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  4. Anonymous4/23/2010

    @ Rachel: LOLOLOLOL!! Your patience in dealing with this man is admirable.

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  5. Ouch, that hurt. Typical bullshit feminist response. Don't bother with any actual facts that might complicate your imagined proof of unfairness.

    Maybe you missed the memo, but there is no shortage of goofy feminist PhDs like you that can't land a full time gig in their profession, are working as secretaries or waitresses and blaming the patriarchy because they can't get their shit in one sock and become a success in their profession or life. Ever notice how it's never their fault?

    Seems it's a bit late in the game for you, but you might consider that some of your younger girlfriends may personally profit from actually considering the truth when it comes to your feminist arguments. I know that's a new approach for someone like you, but you might think about their future versus mentoring them on how to become bitter and underemployed like you.

    Actually I'm a bit too busy to bless you with my input on a daily basis. I'm just thankful that you have the time to continue to add value to the world by sharing your wisdom. You may want to keep an eye out for the department head though...not exactly secretary work, ya know?

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  6. Burn,

    There's actually all kinds of current research into the wage gap that adjusts for all the demographic features you refer to, and the gap is still there. If you would care to educate yourself before you run your mouth off, this is a good place to start: http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/.

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  7. Meg'n,

    You totally busted me. I should have known better than to question the research and objectivity of the AAUW. Are you fucking kidding me? These are the chicks that base their entire organization upon the fiction that women are always victims and that a wage gap actually exists. I'm sure you're a very nice person and all, but please don’t disgrace yourself by quoting the AAUW. You're obviously a college girl so ponder this…what do you think would happen if the fact that the wage gap didn't actually exist became public knowledge? Let me help you, self-serving feminist organizations like the AAUW would be history because their donors would lose their cause to donate to. This is also why feminists haven't made a big deal about the huge shift in women attending and graduating from college and postgraduate programs over the past several decades. This reality wouldn't support your permanent victim status and most likely your donors would quit giving which of course would start to melt your political movement and infrastructure.

    For the uninitiated in this game feminist organizations have been taking turns pitching this lie to the public for years. I guess it's that whole conditioning thing. It worked for Hitler relative to the Jews and it appears to have worked at some level for feminists. Take a lie; keep saying it and eventually it will be accepted. At various times over the past several years the wage gap has ranged between $.77 & $.70 on the dollar. Then you decided to take a new strategy of picking a date of the year at which women were somehow finally achieving "income equity". I think this was a play on people that actually have to write a check for their taxes on April 15 of each year. Most of you probably wouldn't understand this because precious few of you write checks for taxes on April 15; most of you are waiting for your income redistribution checks from the government. Now your friends at the AAUW have stepped in with this classic, which of course Rachel, being the feminist lemming that she is, just copied, pasted and regurgitated, supplemented with her standard feminist righteous indignation.

    I understand that the AAUW is an academic based organization and you chicks that are buying into their bullshit have limited exposure to reality. That said given your privileged educational status I would hope that even some of you would have the ability to think independently. It's humorous to me that Rachel bangs on her mother for her hard-core religious views but holds onto her equally faulty feminist views with the vigor of any Pentecostal.

    As I've said before I work with many seriously smart, competent women. They make good money ($10K+ monthly). They don't look for special favors, breaks, or more favorable hours. They just come to work every day, kick ass and take names. They don't want, ask for or need preferential treatment. They are fine just as they are.

    Maybe some of you younger women, who haven't yet been fully indoctrinated into this victim thing should consider this reality. The only thing stopping you from succeeding is you. Many of your sisters are already doing it. Don't let this feminist victim mindset screw up your life. If you are good then get the fuck out there and be good. Something to keep in mind relative to your life…you get what you settle for.

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  8. CharlieHorse4/24/2010

    Dude, you're embarrassing yourself and should read up on this shit before running your mouth off:

    http://www.ituc-csi.org/new-report-details-gender.html
    http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures/8829941-1.html
    http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1983185,00.html In particular, read the paragraph about men and women in the same jobs - like male and femal secretaries or truck drivers, and the wage gaps there.
    http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusandstatistics/a/paygapgrows.htm

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  9. CharlieHoss,

    Been there, done that Sunshine. Give up on the douche bag act and learn how to read. The only people that need protecting are people that can't get in the game to begin with. Most likely you are one of those people, along with Rachel and a bunch of other holier than thou wanna be college profs that are pissed that no one has yet recognized your native intelligence and rewarded it in a financially meaningful way.

    If you'd like to start getting into a "hey go read this post contest" that's an option. Given that the government subsidized feminist movement does most of the studies and the only way these functions will continue to be funded is if you find what you are looking for I'm not thinking that will be a productive exercise. That said, I totally get how you folks are used to doing things that are totally not productive.

    What would really be great is if even one of you morons had actually worked in the real world and could quote a scenario factually. Instead we have a bunch of academics quoting feminist non-profits and govt websites with everything to gain and nothing to lose by continuing the myth of the wage gap.

    Just because you folks can't hack it and have feminist orgs around to make shit up about jobs doesn't make it true. It does however explain why many young women don't feel that feminism is relevant any longer. Most smart, motivated women are already succeeding and you folks are just sitting out there in your fantasyland.

    Finally, I do appreciate your backhanded acknowledgment that you must not believe enough in women as individuals to work in a competitive employment environment. Just proves feminism has nothing to do with equal opportunity and everything to do with preferential treatment.

    The most entertaining aspect of your positions is that only weak ass women like the ones that read this blog need to take this position. The fair minded, talented and motivated women have already moved on and found their places in the world. This might make me more of a feminist than most of you losers since I've actually promoted and given raises to qualified women when the deserved it. You idiots would rather sit and bitch than get in the game.

    Every one of you deserves exactly what you get.

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  10. Sienna5/01/2010

    I'm curious, Burn. Do you think men should be penalized in their career paths for being fathers? Should they have to make the choice between professional success and parenthood?

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  11. Sienna,

    It would be a wonderful if there were no negative ramifications involved with having children. The truth is that normally once you decide to have kids the father and mother end up making personal and professional sacrifices. I think that's just how parenting works. If those involved don't want to do so they probably shouldn't have the little goofs to begin with. As most parents know, once you have a kid you kinda don't matter any longer. It's all about the baby which is probably how it should be.

    I think you may be oversimplifying a bit. Assuming the people involved, male or female, are competent and promotable then they don't have to choose between professional success or parenthood. That said, they may have to choose to define their success as something other than being the Department Head or the Big, Big Boss.

    Most folks that reach the upper levels of any organization are pretty focused and driven. If that's going to happen they they need to make whatever personal arrangements they need to make if they want to parent and also be able to compete with non-parents on a level playing field. In my experience is that most people aren't willing to fight that fight. They're pretty happy to make their money, take their three weeks of vacation, pay the mortgage and call it good. The parents focus on parenting in their non-work time and the single folks go to Vegas, go on Cruises, go to grad school or go to parties to kiss the boss's ass or whatever. It isn't fair for parents, but then life kinda isn't fair. They don't have the free time to work the 80 hours per week to impress the boss or get their MBA at night or on the weekends to get career pathed to the top. It doesn't mean they aren't successes, it just means it's a different kind of success on a path that they chose.

    I can't speak for other professions, but in what I do for a living I see a ton of successful professionals of both sexes with families and those with two incomes are normally sharing the parenting duties along with everything else.

    I will say that professional success and single parenthood is a very difficult challenge particularly if the parent involved doesn't have the education needed to be positioned to succeed. This applies to both single mothers and fathers.

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