8.5.08

Chicken or the Egg Type Question

i read a reasonably interesting article from msn about how the economy for men is definitely down while for women it isn't as clear. basically women are more employed than men because they are in sectors that aren't as hard hit by the downturn. however women are in jobs that pay less than men.

so here's my question: do women work in jobs that pay less because (a) the jobs occupied predominately by women (who don't demand raises and still have a stigma of not being the breadwinners so don't need the salary) or (b) the jobs are low paying to begin with and men just don't want to work those jobs?

it is certainly more complicated than a simple question but what i am really trying to get at is maybe women still have some personal building to do in demanding raises or does more work need to be done in raising the pay rate of jobs across the board so that all jobs are worked by men & women because they all pay at appropriate rates.... that kinda rambled and didn't quite make sense... but no time to fix.

4 comments:

forkev said...

iĺl go with both.
i have a friend that just interviewed for a good job, the even upped the compensation, and at the end declined his application because he was over qualified. this friend was male, and interviewing for a network admin position. the best we can come up with is he knew more then the potential boss, and the boss didnt want to get his eggo hurt. I do remember going to manpower and asking for a broom job and having to fight with them because they saw big $ behind my other tallents that they wanted me to persue.

I also think it depends on the attitude. some people have NO INTERST in moving up the ladder. Ive another friend that could easily be regional manager of book store in 3 years, but has no interest moving beyond stock boy. I look at some of the secretaries surfing the internet and answering phones all day and it reminds me a little of eating out: itd be great for a week but after that, its just making me sick.

forkev said...

´test for apostraphe

forkev said...

ubuntu 8.04 messing with my keyboard layout. bummer.

Kidsmom said...

I think women don't know how to negotiate pay when accepting a job offer. They take the offer letter and think all they can do is accept or decline the position and that is it! So many of them don't ask...therefore they don't receive. It is like that scripture in the Bible...you have not because you ask not! Women just don't have the same confidence and boldness to negotiate their salary....and unfortunately this is where the inequality in pay primarily comes from.

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