September 1, 2010, - 12:57 pm
That’s Equality?: Women Now Earn MORE Than Men Across US
When I was a kid in the ’70s and ‘8os, and my late father used to take me to pro-Israel events, he had this friend who would always show up. The friend, very good on Mid-East issues, was lost on every other political topic. He always wore a pin that said “68 Cents,” or some other such number. If you asked him what the pin meant, he’d tell you he’s a member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and that this was the number that women in the workforce made for every dollar men earned. My dad and I would privately laugh to ourselves, not only because wearing the pin was absurd and wimpy, but because we knew this was baloney. In fact, for the last several decades, women who didn’t have children and stayed in the workforce for the same amount of time as men, earned similar wages for similar jobs.
Now, though, my Dad’s friend–who I believe is still alive–needs to wear a pin that reads “8% more.” That’s because new figures show discrimination against men in the workforce, with single women earning 8% more than their male peers in metropolitan areas around the U.S. That was the case for figures in 2008, and I’d bet that 2009 figures are even more lopsided. Sounds like discrimination to me. Men don’t leave the workforce to have kids (at least men who don’t like going to Liza Minelli concerts or wearing the skirt in the family). So, there is no excuse to account for the increase, other than vagina-based affirmative action.
It’s clearly anti-male discrimination and sexism. And it was predictable since, as I’ve repeatedly noted on this site, colleges and grad school student bodies are now overwhelmingly female. And, as I also reported on this site, men are more likely to be affected by the recession, since they are in industries and professions in which job loss is far greater in this bad economy. And then there’s the fact that women get the majority of spots in hiring and promotions in math, science, and engineering in academia. That’s not even mentioning that American men are more likely to get serious illnesses and to be without healthcare coverage. The escalating disparity between women’s and men’s salaries in favor of the women is the logical end-result from these factors.
So, where are NOW and all the employment discrimination trial lawyers and their shrill cries? Nowhere to be found. Ditto for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which still presses charges for mostly female complainants in alleged gender-based discrimination cases. But here are the facts:
The earning power of young single women has surpassed that of their male peers in metropolitan areas around the U.S., a shift that is being driven by the growing ranks of women who attend college and move on to high-earning jobs.
In 2008, single, childless women between ages 22 and 30 were earning more than their male counterparts in most U.S. cities, with incomes that were 8% greater on average, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data released Wednesday by Reach Advisors, a consumer-research firm in Slingerlands, N.Y.
The trend was first identified several years ago in the country’s biggest cities, but has broadened out to smaller locales and across more industries. Beyond major cities such as San Francisco and New York, the income imbalance is pronounced in blue-collar hubs and the fast-growing metro areas that have large immigrant populations.
The greatest disparity is in Atlanta, where young, childless women were paid 121% the level of their male counterparts, according to Reach Advisors.
These women have gotten a leg up for several reasons. They are more likely than men to attend college, raising their earning potential.
Between 2006 and 2008, 32.7% of women between 25 and 34 had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 25.8% of men, according to the Census.
And men have been disproportionately hit by heavy job losses in blue-collar industries.
“I expect the trend to continue,” said Andrew Beveridge, a professor at Queens College at the City University of New York, who has studied the phenomenon.
This is all very disturbing because we are quickly becoming a matriarchal society. And, despite the BS of airheads like Sarah Palin who made her hubby play Mr. Mom while she selfishly pursued fame, societies run by “Mama Grizzlies” always die. Do you think knocked-up, fame-obsessed chicks like Palin’s baby mama daughter are gonna be the ones to fight off terrorism or disaster? Only if you’re a moron. The Alpha Female model might work for effeminate men like Todd Palin and Jesse Malkin, who dropped off their man cards and testicles at the pawn shop long ago. But for the rest of America . . .
Good luck with that.
Tags: discrimination, disparities, employment discrimination, Feminism, men, men earning less, salary, Sarah Palin, Women, women earning more
You must also take into consideration govt. incentives to have a diverse employee base necessary to receive govt. contract jobs. I lost a job opportunity in Chicago based on this govt. sponsored race discrimination.
Piker on September 1, 2010 at 1:17 pm