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The Wage Myth
Since around the mid 20th century some terrible misinformation has been
circulating through American society, mostly via the media, which is
extremely detrimental to women.
The misinformation in question is a misinterpretation of the fact that
women earn substantially less money than men. Although it is true that
women currently earn only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn, this has
nothing to do with discrimination. All it means is that women generally
pursue lower paying occupations.
For example, women are more likely to become dental hygienists, whereas
men are more likely to become dentists. Both are full-time professions in the
same field, but obviously a dentist is going to earn more money than a
hygienist, regardless of gender.
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The data on pay discrepancies between the sexes in the twenty-one major
occupational fields (those with 50,000 or more workers) is published
regularly in the World Almanac. According to the most recent figures, the largest discrepancy against women in any field is less than 10 cents, and this occurs in only one field. In most fields the discrepancy is less than a nickel, and women actually earn more than men in three fields.
Although pay discrepancies do exist they are so small that they can be
attributed to a number of factors, none of which have anything to do
with gender. Such as: 1) education/training, 2) skills, 3) experience,
4) employment history, 5) performance, 6) seniority, 7) the practice of
paying the most qualified applicant their stated minimum salary requirement, but mostly 8) when girls and young women hear women in the media say they will be paid less because they are women, it saps their ambition and moves them to pursue lower paying, dead-end jobs.
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