
Chicago pays female employees only 80% of what it pays male employees - yoha
http://www.curiousgnu.com/pay-gap
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canttestthis
Title is misleading, it implies that Chicago pays women less for the same job.
Quote from the article:

> In conclusion, it’s true that the gender pay gap exists, and that on
> average, women make less money than men. However, the claims that it proves
> gender inequality are false because women are simply doing different kinds
> of jobs.

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intopieces
This explanation misses the forest for the trees, every time, because it
doesn't say _why_ women are performing different jobs. The mere fact that the
jobs are 'different' means nothing when it comes to pay. The market-rate pay
for 'different' jobs is not a function of some natural order. That is, there
is not some free market whereby the exact value of an employee is computed by
her exact output. Also, the 'different' aspect could very easily be forced:
Two people could perform nearly identical functions under different job
titles: call one a 'manager' and the other 'coordinator', outline that
coordinator and manager have different salaries, _et voilà_! You've justified
a gender pay gap.

More interesting to understand is:

Why women ask for raises less often

Why men do not take parental leave at the same time as their spouses

Why women are not chosen for or seek out high-risk, high-reward occupations

These are only a few of the interesting questions we might ask about an
apparent pay gap. I know it doesn't come up handily in a statistical analysis
but the least the author could do is raise them as questions to think about.

~~~
dradtke
I think the article is targeting the specific idea that women get less pay for
equal work, which may still hold some merit, but appears to be untrue at least
for Chicago city workers. There are certainly many other factors contributing
to women earning less as a whole, but that I assume is beyond the scope of
this particular article.

