Good examples of pay inequality based on gender?

[madville]

Saw something about this and was thinking about it while working in the yard earlier.

I've worked several jobs (government, union and military) where pay was equal between males and females because there were defined public pay charts and you got what you got based on years of service and position/rank.

What are some good specific examples of pay inequality? There are many women in the medical field, has anyone seen examples there, say between male and female nurses?

I'm just thinking back, when I was in the private sector there really weren't any women technicians in my field so I never saw it and would like to hear some firsthand accounts and experiences to better understand the subject. Anyone have any good links to studies on the subject?

[SharonAnn]

1. I found it prevalent in the Tech field when I was working.

I think the primary causes were:
1. Women were hired in at lower salaries
2. Women got smaller raises
3. Women were promoted later than men.

Of course, I started in the tech field in the "Mad Men" days and for a long time was one of the very few women in the field. People didn't share their salary information, especially with women, at that time. There was no way of knowing if one was paid fairly ornot.

In my work career, 40+ years, this pay probably amounted to between $400,000 - $600,000 in lost wages and therefore lower retirement income. And yet, the field was much better for women than most other fields.

Just to clarify things about my qualifications and performance:
1. Bachelor's degree and then MBA while I was working
2. Promoted occasionally, usually after lobbying heavily for it
3. No children, never took time off for family reasons
4. Able to travel and did.
5. Considered top presenter at industry conferences
6. Considered one of the best troubleshooters in our field
7. Wide variety of experience and performance from detailed technical to big-picture project implementation.
8. Respected by my peers and management, unless they believed that "women can't do this job" so strongly that they would ignore the facts.

And then there were the "we don't hire women into this job" people who limited opportunities for me. Fortunately, there were other who were looking for "a few good people" and didn't discriminate.

[seveneyes]

2. Most jobs treat workers equally in modern times

Perhaps at the CEO level some shenanigans are prevalent. I wouldn't know, considering I never made it past the exceptional average worker level.

[bettyellen]

3. there are not great studies because employers do not disclose the info....

I remember when I was a manager my boss asking me to throw out men's resumes because the salary we were willing to pay wouldn't "be enough" for a man. And when I interviewed them , men did seem to have much higher expectations of compensation than women did.

And they replaced a woman with 15 years industry experience with a (not too bright) man who had helped manage a family pizzeria a couple of years, and paid him 25% more. And he did about 40% less work (delegated by flirting) and drove the place into the ground. Lost a lot of business, he was out on his ass within 9 months. When I asked my boss about his compensation, he said it was because he was going to get married and have babies in a few years!