Progress Report: The Wage Gap

Over the last one hundred years, there has been a dramatic shift in the labor force. More profound than the internet and more radical than the assembly line. Women entering the workforce has been the change that defined the 20th century. It has challenged the way that business, churches, and even families have traditionally operated. So how have we adapted to this radical change, are we treating women well as a society? One measure that people often use to examine this question is pay. Now the original wage gap must have been something like 0 cents for every dollar that men earned. We have come a long way since then, but how are we doing in more recent times?

First, I would like to cast some doubt on aggregate statistics as a whole. Often times we use these very broadly, but allow me to show you how broad aggregations can often be misconstrued. One classic example is the immigrant worker and the average wage. Many people often say that immigrants bring down the average wage because they work for so little this is, however, very false. Imagine a group of five workers each one makes 50,000/year. This makes the average wage in this country 50,000 but say an immigrant comes and will work for half of that: 25,000/year. This will cause the average wage to fall to around 45,000 for everyone. Even though the immigrant is adding more value to the economy it appears as though they are making everyone else poorer. My point is this; statistics that are a broad aggregation usually fail to give the full picture of whatever they are describing.

So back to our question, how are we doing in this country when it comes to paying women fairly. Well there is good news, sort of. One study done across multiple metropolitan areas a couple of years ago found that single childless women in their 20s earn about 8% more than their male counterparts. Should I cue the confetti cannons? Probably not after all if I am any good at writing (don’t answer that), you are doubting these aggregate statistics that I am giving you, and for good reason. The creator of this statistic commented this on their findings, “the bottom line is that in a world where most players are looking for a sound bite to support a specific position, this is actually a rather complex issue… things aren't exactly as equal as some people say, but it's not always as dire as others say” (see this article here). So should we pat ourselves on the back or sharpen our pitchforks? Well the answer is, complicated. We don’t live in a Tetris world where everything fits together or you just start over. Not everyone is even convinced that monetary compensation is the best measure to judge the treatment of women. Another good question is how would we know when we arrived. Is it possible that we could be the driver on the icy road, over-correcting one way and then the other, ultimately to our own detriment?

I believe the answer to the pay gap lies with each individual. How about each of us takes these statistics with a grain of salt and reflects on our own personal attitudes and behaviors. How do you feel treated, how do you treat others? When we turn the focus on individuals I find, it’s much easier to not only see a difference, but also to be the difference. We can all take solace in the fact that, according to this statistic, it seems as if we are moving in the right direction. I can’t say that I believe we shall ever arrive at the destination, or that we would know if we did. It is the collective result of each individual journey that will allow us to achieve what we have been moving towards for over 100 years.