A reader of this blog is asking for some help on his college class. What better way to tighten up a theory than to let you jackals rip it to pieces?
His e-mail to me…
Scott,
I am a student at Shippensburg University in PA. I am going to be taking an experimental design class next semester and I am aware that it requires a survey portion. I want to examine the pay difference between men and women to find the root cause. I believe as you stated in one of your Dilbert books (sorry I don’t remember which) that basically men are paid more because we are willing to kiss more ass and to stab people in the back. I will probably state it more like men see work as more important than women do. So I did about 15 minutes of research on the Bureau of labor statistics website and found three different sources that support this thought. One is a statistic about time spent at work http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-table21-2005.pdf . it shows on average that men have spend about 6 more hours at work each week than women do. The second deals with education http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-table8-2005.pdf it shows that men are 10% more men attain degrees at each level except high school. The third deals with absences http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat46.pdf it shows that on average women miss about twice as much work as men. So my question to the readers of your blog would be, given all of this information is it more likely that sexism causes the pay difference or is it more likely that market pressures cause employers to reward people with more education, less missed days of work, and that spend more time in the office? I would love the opportunity to have my theory tested so that I can tighten it up where it needs it. If you could help me out with this I would be eternally grateful.
-Bill
I think Bill leaves out a few other potential explanations for pay disparity. I read somewhere (and as usual I forget where) that men are more likely to negotiate for a higher salary than women. All other things being equal, the person who negotiates for more money is more likely to get it.
Also, studies show that the tallest person is usually paid the most. Men are taller than women. So there might be some heightism as well as sexism. I’ve noticed that the women who make it to executive positions seem taller than average.
I also wonder about gender differences in terms of willingness to relocate for a better job or more money. As soon as I graduated college I left my small town in upstate NY in search of career advantages in California. My California banking career ended when my boss told me that she couldn’t promote me because I was (and still am) a white male. The company was getting a lot of heat for lack of diversity in management.
So I bailed out and went to work for Pacific Bell. My career at the phone company ended when my boss told me he also couldn’t promote a white male. I have no complaints, since that’s when I started drawing insulting comics of management, and things obviously worked out okay. The point is that I was willing to instantly bail out of every situation in which the environment was holding me back. I’d be interested in knowing whether women are as likely as men to relocate or switch jobs for career advancement.
I often fly to give speeches. I estimate that 80% of the business passengers on my flights are male. Business travel is often unpleasant, and not everyone is willing to do it. For that reason alone I would expect that business travel is highly correlated with salary and career advancement. I’ve never seen that factor studied.
I have a hobby of asking men and women, and boys and girls, if they would prefer to be CEO of a major company or enjoy an easier lifestyle with less money. About half of all males say they’d take the CEO option with all of its downsides. Females occasionally opt for the hypothetical CEO lifestyle but not often. All other things being equal, the person with the most desire will have the best results. I’ve never seen a study that measured desire.
Obviously sexism exists and it affects pay, both historically and presently. But I don’t think anyone has ever taken a serious cut at determining how much of the male-female pay disparity is caused by sexism alone.
Jackals, do your thing.