Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site umcp-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!mtunh!mtung!mtunf!ariel!vax135!timeinc!phri!pesnta!amd!vecpyr!lll-crg!gymble!umcp-cs!flink From: flink@umcp-cs.UUCP (Paul V. Torek) Newsgroups: net.women,net.politics Subject: Comparable worth -- what I suggest instead Message-ID: <543@umcp-cs.UUCP> Date: Sun, 30-Jun-85 16:59:11 EDT Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.543 Posted: Sun Jun 30 16:59:11 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 08:38:01 EDT References: <482@ttidcc.UUCP> <8203@ucbvax.ARPA>Reply-To: flink@maryland.UUCP (Paul V. Torek) Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD Lines: 39 Xref: watmath net.women:6209 net.politics:9705 Summary: Earth to feminists, come in, feminists... Why can't feminist spokeswomen accept what I'm saying? Does the need to justify their suggested government action blind them to the problems their solution doesn't address? (I don my asbestos suit...) One of the reasons -- the biggest, I'll bet -- for the "59 cents" wage gap is that girls/women are DISCOURAGED BY SOCIETY from taking certain jobs; jobs that are considered "men's work". If women are pushed into a narrow range of jobs -- creating a much larger supply of such workers than there would be if women were supported in whatever free choice they made -- it follows as the night upon the day that they will be paid less than men. This is so obvious that I shouldn't have to explain it, but here goes. Picture, if you will, two societies, A and B, in a world where there are only 4 jobs: hunter, gatherer, toolmaker, and housebuilder. In society A, men and women are free to choose any job; their families support them regardless of their decision; nobody tells women that hunting is "men's work", etc. The 40,000 people in society A are evenly split among the jobs, and they pay nearly equally. In B, women are brought up to be gatherers only; everything else is discouraged. Although the environment, consumer tastes for meat vs plants, etc. are exactly the same for societies A and B, there are 19,000 gatherers (almost all women) in B. So guess what? -- supply and demand dictate that the price of veggies is lower in B; fewer veggies can be gathered per worker-hour (diminishing returns); thus gatherers receive terrible wages! Society B's problem can't be solved by mandating "comparable worth" pay schedules, though that might help remedy discrimination by bosses of gathering companies (OK, so there's a 5th job). Society B must become more like society A, else comparable worth legislation will only result in a lot of unemployed gatherers (plus a few well- paid ones). The moral for our society is clear (I hope). So why aren't feminists raising hell (MORE hell than they raise over "comparable worth") over the way girls are brought up to be qualified for, and interested in, only "women's work"? --Paul "Turn up those flames -- I hate cold weather!" Torek