Fourth Finger May Show If You Have What It Takes: Amity Shlaes - Bloomberg.com Fourth Finger May Show If You Have What It Takes:
Commentary by Amity Shlaes
Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The pay gap between women and men is again in the news. Run the numbers from a July 1 report of White House salaries and you?ll find that the average female staffer in the White House earns $9,168 less than a male.
This gap is a tad embarrassing for President Barack Obama and his progressive Democratic Party, which tends to argue it is nurture, and not nature, that causes such disparities. After all, Obama campaigned on a promise to help women by doing all that is politically possible to make their status equal to that of men. Hiring should be the easy part.
The West Wing gap suggests that cultural prejudices are so deeply ingrained that even the Obama team can?t suppress them. Isn?t it always that the hottest jobs -- White House or hedge fund -- go to men even when the women deserve them?
But maybe the White House didn?t fail. Or maybe it should have done its personnel selection differently, with a ruler to measure the fourth digit of job candidates? hands.
Replies
4
SoWal Expert
Is it that women actually make less, or is it that they have different jobs w/ different salaries (which isn't a sign of fairness, just how the stats get skewed)?
My 4th finger is shorter - since that is supposed to mean I am less aggressive, ambitious, or prone to high risk activities, I doubt that's the valid reason for the pay gap. :roll:
My 4th finger is shorter - since that is supposed to mean I am less aggressive, ambitious, or prone to high risk activities, I doubt that's the valid reason for the pay gap. :roll:
SWGB
I'm with scooterbug on this one. I'm betting there are a lot more women in lower paying jobs skewing the stats. If I'm wrong and that's not the case then it's probably time to cut some male staffers salaries.
Beach Fanatic
I just gotta ask, why are females skewing the data by being in lower paying jobs, there are women then there are men so shouldn't women therefore occupy more higher paying jobs?!?!?!? Makes me think women are both relegated to both lower paying jobs and/or getting paid less for the same job-either way it sucks!
SoWal Expert
If I remember correctly from a similar discussion regarding McCain and Obama's staffs pre-election, the data pool is small enough that a job or 2 skews it - hence my question about exactly what was being compared.
Though I do believe it is still disproportionate between the sexes when compared apples to apples and oranges to oranges.
Though I do believe it is still disproportionate between the sexes when compared apples to apples and oranges to oranges.
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