The gender pay gap is at average 15% in North America. When shopping though, items that are marketed for Men or Women specifically seem to be on average priced the same.
The gender pay gap is at average 15% in North America. When shopping though, items that are marketed for Men or Women specifically seem to be on average priced the same.
That's not true at all. Sometimes the cost is more for men. But almost universally the costs of the same item are more for women than for men. The running joke is that if you take the same volume of shaving cream, stick it in a taller narrower bottle, and add a label with purple and butterflies; you can slap a higher price on it.
Look at pockets. Women rarely find clothes with pockets. When they do the pockets are usually very inadequate. Their pants use less material but cost more.
Alternatively, their clothes often take more materials to clean, so drycleaners cost more for women's clothing. Haircuts cost more for women but they usually take more time and materials as well. So there are often hidden considerations that complicate how we judge and view this matter. At the end of the day it costs more if manufacturers can get away with charging more without losing sales.
"Pink tax" is a thing, though. Not just in North America.
As I recall there have been a number of studies done on this... and they fall into the "technically true" if you looked specifically at gender within a given work pool and discounted all other factors then this is the answer you arrive at.
Unfortunately, every single one of these that I have personally read ... all suffered from the fact that other factors play a part in that somewhat disingenuous number. If roles are factored in - these numbers begin to fall apart. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread: women have maternity leave... and following that can look to exit the workforce or move to part time. Compensation can be different between these categories. Continuing down this path: in a household that is dual income - it has been traditional to see the woman leave the workforce for child rearing opposed to the man. So looking at a given workforce, specifically at a given role in that group may still have a disparity in experience and time in the position (and thus compensation.) Lastly there is the bane of all - starting compensation negotiations. It is my understanding that generally men are more aggressive / assertive during this phase in the hiring process.
In short: this is stupidly difficult to generate fair and correct numbers for this type of metric and RARELY does it behoove the party running that inquiry to get the details right. The more accurate the results: the less sensational the number. Now to be clear: I do believe that there are cases where there are unfair practices taking place - but they are the exception... not the rule.
At the end of the day - if we made it commonplace to be acceptable to discuss compensation.. And put some more workers rights laws into place... We'd have a system where everyone could have a fair shake in a job, equally.
I'd be happy to be proven wrong with some numbers that have actually factored in these variables. With regard to OPs statement: that number looks strikingly familiar to one horrifyingly old and incorrectly run survey.
I've had this discussion quite a bit, and it's tough to break the 77 cents on the dollar and whatnot rhetoric, because those people are convinced that a man and a woman doing the same job with equal experience, the woman just automatically makes on average 23% less than a man. And it's easy to prove that wrong, and entirely misses the point.
Two of the biggest factors in fixing the "gender pay gap" is longer maternity leave, similar lengths of paternity leave, and low-cost or free daycare. And then obviously, a cultural change for stay-at-home dads (though not exactly something you can legislate). I also read a study (I believe from Farleigh Dickinson University, in 2002, though I have had trouble finding it since) that the vast majority of men, after having a child, wanted to go back to full time work, and the majority (though not as large) if women wanted to either work part-time or stay at home. Now, I imagine a lot has changed in 23 years, so maybe that mentality has changed, but if all else is fixed and there is a "pay gap" based on choice like that... that's not a problem that needs to be solved.
So to recap, we need to stop talking about cents on the dollar and start talking about making rejoining the workforce more available and appealing after having babies, and giving dads more time with their kids to let their wives work.
ETA: To be clear, there is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed regarding women in the workforce, it's just not the "gender pay gap" as people try to describe it.
I've had this discussion quite a bit, and it's tough to break the 77 cents on the dollar and whatnot rhetoric, because those people are convinced that a man and a woman doing the same job with equal experience, the woman just automatically makes on average 23% less than a man. And it's easy to prove that wrong, and entirely misses the point.
With the pervasiveness of social media, outrage culture, and, frankly, the steadily increasing difficulty to finding credible sources of information... it's just far too easy to just revert to our baser "tribalistic" tendencies and blame someone and get mad. Toss into the mix the fact that a lot of these topics are sensitive issues and boy howdy EVERYTHING is a powderkeg and ONLY black and white despite evidence to the contrary.
[...] Now, I imagine a lot has changed in 23 years, so maybe that mentality has changed, but if all else is fixed and there is a "pay gap" based on choice like that... that's not a problem that needs to be solved.
Agreed on this point. Different strokes for different folks.
So to recap, we need to stop talking about cents on the dollar and start talking about making rejoining the workforce more available and appealing after having babies, and giving dads more time with their kids to let their wives work.
I'd really like to see a world where it'd be possible for both parents to get leave, be able to work part time while not being put in a financially dire situation, and still have access to crucial things like affordable healthcare and insurance. A pipedream - without question... but one can hope.
"Women aren't discriminated against with pay, because they're discriminated against all these other ways instead!"
Sorry, were you quoting someone? I can't see that anywhere else... but perhaps I missed it.
Evidence? Or just "trust me bro"?
Trust me bro