Friday, June 22, 2012

Pay Discrimination Still Occurring

Equal Pay Plaintiffs' Burden of Proof - Businessweek
...Pay discrimination is a silent offense. Women know when they’re being harassed and abused, of course, and they can often tell if they’re being discriminated against in hiring and promotion—all they have to do is count the men with lesser skills and credentials doing jobs they still aspire to. But in many workplaces, discussing pay is frowned upon; in some, it’s a dismissible offense. So, like Ledbetter, women often don’t know when they’re getting paid less than men. So they don’t complain. So the problem continues...
At one institution that I know well, the situation was reversed--the women made far more than the men-- on average. Of course,the top managers, all men, raked in the most dough. No, it had nothing to do with education, experience or productivity. The situation has now normalized and everyone seems happy with the rates because the differences are justified by one of the previous three reasons. Don't get me wrong-- overall, women are roundly discriminated against. You would think all women would get behind efforts to correct this injustice, but you would be in error, and that, I think is the primary reason why the ERA never passed and why we don't now have a competent president.

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