Gender pay gap

[Kinser79]

(05-19-2016, 09:57 PM)Bronco80 Wrote: 1) When it comes to paid parental leave, I believe that it should offered to mothers and fathers on an equal basis.  It's the fair think to do for both men, who don't have to take on the exclusive burden of being the breadwinner, and for women, who don't have to fall behind their spouse in experience on the workplace.  This helps to temper the pure biological differences that you mention, and after both parents are through with their leave, ideally it won't always be the woman that's exclusively staying at home.

While I'm perfectly fine with adding paternity leave into the mix, and I'm not about to say that any woman who wants to work in any field should be prohibited to do so--the biological differences between men and women are not going to be tempered. I know that on the left there is this bizarre meme that gender is a social construct, but the reality is that gender is a biological construct. As such no legislation no matter how "progressive" change those biological differences.

Quote:2-3) I don't think anything you've said really contradicts the point I'm making.

Actually it does. The Wage Gap Myth is prediated on women having a lower wage than men which is untrue. A woman who works X job will get Y pay; a man who works X job will get Y pay. Equal pay is enforced by law, specifically the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (signed by JFK), not that the lack of need will stop yet more legislation.

Rather any and all wage gaps that occur between the sexes seem to be predicated on choices made by women and men that have consequences on their over all life time earnings. As the US Department of Labor will tell you.

http://blog.dol.gov/2012/06/07/myth-bust...e-pay-gap/

Quote:Condoms can be purchased in any typical store at any time, and used immediately.  All female contraceptive options require extra effort to acquire, and some of those aspects make it disproportionately tougher on poorer women.  Reproductive freedom should be available to all, and that's not the case in today's United States.

Oral contraception is by prescription and is covered under Medicaid which is more than available for poor women who would also likely want their children covered by SCHIP. In fact all manner of contraception is covered by Medicaid and other forms of health care insurance. The morning after pill is of course available without prescription--I should know since I happen to know straight women who've had this problem and they are far from rich.

Only abortion presents a problem, and it should be noted that I do not agree with the abortion prohibitionists simply because abortion is a necessary evil under our current system of social organization.

As for being for reproductive freedom, I'm all for that. We also already have it nothing further needs to be done than to maintain the status quo or perhaps loosen abortion regulations and incorporate new developments.

Quote:4) I certainly agree that the causes of the pay gap are subject to other forces, we just disagree as to what forces.  I don't think certain sexist biases can be ruled out, such as the bias of the woman being the caretaker (countering hours worked and to some extent education), and being biased toward certain professions and against others (countering job type and skill).  That's more implicit bias than simply employers actively not wanting women in high profile positions, although the latter can occasionally happen.

I would contend that there is no sexist biases to be countered. Women take up certain professions because they want to. Should a woman be forced to become a sanitation engineer instead of a kindergarten teacher? I say no. How about forcing a woman to be a steel worker when her life's ambition is to be a nurse? The governmental organ to force such a thing would be both expensive, large, intrusive and unnecessary. Indeed if anything sexist biases in professions work against men. After all a woman being an elementary school teacher is considered to be quite normal but a man wanting the same thing is automatically assumed to be some sort of pervert. As if men by virtue of being men are incapable of caring for children.

As for who the breadwinner is, I must admit that my experience with heterosexual family dynamics is limited, but from what I've seen with my own family growing up and my sister's family now is that the bread winner is the one who can make the most money. In both cases that would be my mother and sister respectively.

I notice that the complain is a lack of women in being high profile positions, part of that is biologically driven--men can and do exist without reproducing or forming families. In fact only about 40% of men breed (and that includes many straight ones) whereas about 85% of women manage to do it. It would seem to me that biological drives are preventing breaking that glass ceiling and no amount of activism or legislation is going to change that. But it is telling that it is the top that you and Feminists complain of--why is their no demand for female trash collectors or sewerage workers or lumberjacks?