DC: A pair of Harvard University Ph.D. candidates may have put a dagger in the mythical “gender wage gap” oft cited by politicians and pundits as an issue that can be addressed through governmental policy.
In a paper titled, “Why Do Women Earn Less Than Men?” Valentin Bolotnyy and Natalia Emanuel study the unionized environment of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).
Economist John Phelan describes the MBTA as a “union shop with uniform hourly wages where men and women adhere to the same rules and receive the same benefits. Workers are promoted on the basis of seniority rather than performance, and male and female workers of the same seniority have the same choices for scheduling, routes, vacation, and overtime. There is almost no scope here for a sexist boss to favor men over women.”
And yet, Bolotnyy and Emanuel reported that “female workers earn $0.89 on the male-worker dollar (weekly earnings).” The Ph.D. candidates used “confidential administrative data” on the authority’s bus and train operators “to show that the weekly earnings gap can be explained by the workplace choices that women and men make.” MORE
Rhetoric defeats facts every time, when that is what the public responds to.
“But, but, but…women have to get home to take care of the children and make dinner for their oppressive husbands, bla, bla, bla.” -The Feminists
Having had to manage 20+ employees over 30 years, 1/2 of whom were women, I agree with these findings. Generally speaking, the men would work overtime, without pay, while the women had higher absenteeism, would not work overtime when asked, and complained far more than the men. I could go on, but you get the idea. Also, there were notable exceptions.
In Corporate settings there is definitely and distinctly a wage gap. Women are expected to do more, suffer more abuse, and perform at a higher level than members of the “good old boys club” that exists in every large business. If you can make it to be a VP you’re golden, and you’ve earned the right to beat the less fortunate. Ain’t that right Frank?
I have to defend the gals on this one. Over the past 20 years I see women as outperforming men. I don’t have any performance data, so it’s just an observation. In general, women are more disciplined, more loyal to an organization, and can work very long hours. I see men as generally more lazy and given to talking too much about sports of all sorts during working hours. I see them as coming in later and leaving earlier.
Sorry, gents, but that’s the way I see it.
I was with the FedGov.
The employees, regardless of sex or color, were, generally speaking, worthless.
As I have written many times, you could (probably) get rid of half and not damage “work-flow.” And that number is more realistically around 2/3.
I’m pretty sure (without any experience or data) that corporate America is much the same – given the position of unionism and people’s reluctance to deprive someone of a job simply due to incompetence. Even in my construction days we had a guy who fucked up more than he didn’t – wasn’t lazy – just all thumbs – probably should have been in college somewhere.
izlamo delenda est …
Men work longer, to accomplish the same goal, because they’re brightness challenged.
If you can’t get somebody else to do what you’re being paid for, you’re not the best.