Blame the Little Miss

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/04/26/blame-the-little-miss/

by Tula Connell, Apr 26, 2008



This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog.

If you’re a U.S. woman and aren’t getting paid for doing the same work as men, it’s your fault.

If you’re a woman and are overweight or smoke, you’re personally responsible for contributing to the sinking U.S. life expectancy rate.

If you’re a woman and you ask for the same pay for doing the same job as your male co-worker, you only have a small window of time to do so. Otherwise, you’re to blame if you don’t figure out real fast the game is rigged against you.

In recent days, America’s women have been the target of a series of such falsehoods and distortions. This week, we commemorated Equal Pay Day on April 22. That’s the day women’s wages catch up to what men were paid in the previous year.

So, it’s a good time to examine this blame game targeting women.

An ABC News segment recently blamed the gender pay gap—U.S. women are paid 77 cents for every $1 men are paid—on women. According to ABC, women are paid less than men for doing the same job because they just don’t ask for the same salary. Ellen Bravo, founder of 9to5, National Association of Working Women and author of Taking on the Big Boys, shows what’s wrong with this argument.

An ABC News segment called the negotiation process “something that each of us has the ability to control….No employer has an obligation to whisper in the woman’s ear, ‘Hey, you know, you just lost out on more money because you didn’t speak up.’”

Stories like these leave out a few important realities: The majority of women work in jobs where they have no right whatsoever to negotiate for pay. Many are like Donna, a software developer whose employment agreement lists “discussing salary with colleagues” among “fire-able offenses.” Hard to know you’re making less than others if you’re not allowed to know what the others earn.

FULL story at link.

[Kitty Herder]

1. K&R

[fasttense]

2. Right wing female misogynists

are always writing these books telling women that it is all their fault. They cloak their self loathing with manipulative theories and sneering smiles. Ann the man, Dr. Laura and other idiots are trying to convince us all to shut up and accept it.

[Quantess]

9. They think they're better than the rest of us, for some inexplicable reason.

They are in denial. It's a cognitive block. I had the same problem when I was a little girl, thinking that I was clearly above other females because I was different than the stereotyped images that were fed to me, about what girls and women are. It took some maturity to realize that I wasn't the only little girl who was more than just a sterotype.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[Flying Dream Blues]

4. Like I needed another reason to loathe ABC. Good post! nt

[annabanana]

5. goddam... America is sliding backwards faster & faster. . . n/t

[lapislzi]

6. I was raised never to discuss my salary with anyone

Maybe it's time to rethink that...to see whether I have parity with my co-workers. Hm.

[Karenina]

7. K&R!

[ensho]

8. kicking for justice

nt