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How To Close the Gender Pay Gap By 2044 (fastcompany.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fixing-things dept.

An anonymous reader shares an article on FastCompany: The wage gap in developing countries could be reduced by 35% by 2030 and eliminated by 2044, according to a new report from consultancy Accenture. But in order achieve pay parity, women need to be more involved in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, the report notes. But, workplaces will have to change too. One of the biggest barriers to women attaining equal pay is that many women don't work full-time. They take part-time jobs in order to balance responsibilities at home or within a family -- work that is generally unpaid. If workplaces provide more flexible schedules, allowing women to work 40 hours outside of a typical 9-5 schema, more women would be able to work full-time.

7 of 421 comments (clear)

  1. Get rid of it by tomorrow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    By all realistic studies it doesn't exist.
    Studies showing the pay gap don't account for reduced hours, child birth, different professions, different career path, etc.

    1. Re:Get rid of it by tomorrow. by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That is not a "pay gap". That is a skill, and time and effort invested in education and work gap. It seems to indicate that women have it easier to be lazy in the workplace. (No difference in laziness in men and women in general, but whether you actually can be lazy if you want to be depends on opportunities.)

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re:Get rid of it by tomorrow. by meburke · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The poster is correct: A pay gap does not exist if men and women are receiving equal pay for similar work. Studies starting as early as 1973 show that women without children, continuously employed for 17 or more years, in the USA, actually made MORE than men with the same criteria.

      What creates the gap in income is that women make choices about taking time off for their kids, having children, spending more family time, and preferring less stressful or demanding jobs. Women seem to respond to quality-of-life enhancement over income enhancement.

      Pay is generally given (in the jobs market) based on the perceived contribution. A woman who has been out of her field for 4 or 5 years cannot usually contribute as much as another employee (man or woman) who has been continuously engaged and is up-to-date. That woman will re-enter the job market at a lower rate, which then becomes the new starting point for future increased pay.

      OK, one of the criteria is "in the USA". Conditions are different outside the USA, and the report may be correct for those countries.

      And remember: "Women" don't earn income; "individual women" earn income. Statistics based on averages can be skewed in many different ways, and maany of these create useless results.

      --
      "The mind works quicker than you think!"
  2. bah by ruir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Men should be more involved in nursing, hospitals and schools. Women should to be more involved as "garbage technician" and mechanic...

  3. Education gap still WIDE OPEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Boys still behind girls AT EVERY STAGE OF EDUCATION.

    But for some reason the feminists talk about EQUALITY while only whining about women choosing the wrong courses, working fewer hours for fewer years and for some reason sometimes getting paid less.

  4. There is nothing to close. by iCEBaLM · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The gender pay gap is a myth. If it really existed, nobody would hire men. Men work longer, and in much more dangerous jobs, and therefore make more money.

  5. What does the market say? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If women are really being paid less than men for the same work, wouldn't it make sense financially to hire women only? Even a small company of 50 employees can save a million dollars a year just by hiring women instead of men. As the owner it would go directly into my pocket. Who doesn't like to make an extra million dollars a year?

    Employers will go to great lengths to hire the cheapest labor for any given task. They will even violate labor laws and risk prison by hiring illegal aliens, that's how much business owners love to save money (admittedly the risk of prison for hiring illegals was very small in the past, prior to Trump). Therefore if the gender gap is as real as the feminists claim, every CEO should be scouring the earth for all the women they could hire.