.

“Is it possible that men (as a rule of thumb) are more interested in getting the highest pay (even for the same position) and will actively work to maximize their pay while women are not as concerned about pay as much. They don’t push the envelope and thus won’t get as much.”

Contrary to Michael’s assumption I care very much about being fairly compensated. I am not simply doing my job to keep busy in between manicures and soap operas. I work just as hard, if not harder than my male colleagues for the same job, for the same (usually more) hours. I regularly keep 60-70 hour weeks and hold myself to the same standards of excellence I expect from anyone in my field.

As a woman I have noticed (sometimes glaringly) that I am more scrutinized for the validity of my opinion and the integrity of my work every day. I have seen countless men sail by and get promoted faster and more generously while doing piss-poor work in large part because of the good ole boy’s club mentality. I recently negotiated my raise but I know I am still paid less and will always be fighting to keep from being a step behind. I am well aware that deep and ugly discrimination is very prevalent for women in the work place. A great majority of men in this country feel that most women should leave the work place to make babies and scrub pots with smiles on their faces. I believe the current administration (and those who agreed upon this ruling) would love to take america back to the 1950s so women can be kept “in their place.” I loudly object! Interpretation is everything and we all know how easily the law can be used and bent to accomodate just about any focused interest.

As a personal case study to add to this blog – I will offer up my own. I will compare my husband and myself. We hold the EXACT same skill set, and the same degrees and work experience. We work for the same company. I have been working 9 months longer than him. Even with my demanded negotiated pay increase I am steps behind. He still makes 15% more than I do and regularly gets higher pay raises than I do even though my job reviews often come out better than his. How do you explain this? fair? no. truth? yes. He agrees that this disparity is shocking and troublesome. I absolutely will not waste vast amounts of time and money to fight tooth and nail for this nagging discrimination. As we all know the legal process is cumbersome and often, as in the Ledbetter case, fruitless. Instead I will reap as much learning as possible from this job and take my talents elsewhere with more knowledge, and more power than before. This type of fight unfortunately is one where a woman must prove herself and make educated decisions more loudly and more cleverly than ever before. Unfortunately ladies this may get you labeled as a manipulative ***** but don’t fret, this is just fear showcasing itself as hostility. More than ever knowledge is power. It is in your own hands to use it to the best of your ability.

180 days is hardly enough time to file a suit, let alone learn of pay inequities and assemble substantive data in order to fight the disparities

This ruling shows again the necessity
for the Democrats to regain the
Presidency for at least the next four years. There will be Court openings
and better balance is needed.

This ruling has set back comparable
worth at least two decades. How nice
for big business!

But in no way should this ever be interpreted that women do not care about their “returns” and anyone who thinks otherwise is blind to the facts. My wife is in a “helping profession” (a social worker who does care management for elders, does that mean she doesn’t care about how much she earns – absolutely not. She maximizes her earnings as well she should.

Why didn’t Michael of SF and his wife not stay in the Appalachians – costs are lower, quality of life is much higher, safety for their children is far, far greater? The impact (and attendant SATISFACTION would be far greater) that an RN could have there is far greater than in SF – too many leave for higher paying jobs elsewhere. They moved to SF so she could earn 5 times what she might earn in the Appalachians. This is not maximizing her potential earning capacity??? To say otherwise is disingenuous at best and an outright lie at the worst. Sorry to say it so forcefully.

Congress passed the EPA (Equal Pay Act) for a very good reason, women are underpaid PERIOD The Supreme Court with this ruling has virtually eliminated any chance that a woman would have of using the act to gain pay equity.

All is not lost, however, as I teach in my Business Law courses on basic law, the Supreme Court CAN and sometimes is overruled by the Congress. All the Congress has to do is read this decision and change the deadlines for an EPA challenge from 180 days or totally barred, to 180 days and ALL past acts related to that party or those parties, can be examined in the ensuing EEOC investigation of the complaint and those facts can be used in the trial of a complaint.

Women, start talking this up with your US Reps and Senators. Men if you have any guts whatsoever, you will join them. Unless you subscribe to the sexist idea that women don’t care about money but rather “satisfaction” is more important.

I don’t believe that my comment was ill informed. From personal experience, I can tell you that my wife isn’t very interested in her pay (she is a professional making over $100k as a nurse in SF). She instead looks for work that is meaningful to her. If I didn’t press my viewpoint (as a stay at home father to a 1 and 4 year old), she probably would be working for $20k/year in the Appalacian mountains as a nurse to the poor.
From my experience with men and women in general, I have found that many, many men receive much of their sense of worth from how much they get paid and what title they have (not necessarily a good or bad thing). On the other hand, I have found that this is not as true in women. Women (but certainly not all of them) tend to be more interested in the meaning they derive out of a job. They are not as obsessed with getting the highest paying position.

You cannot simply compare what the average man makes and what the average woman makes to see if pay discrmination exists. You need to factor out other factors (as mentioned by other posts) and then compare. Good statasticians can do this using multiple regression. The reason different groups come to different conclusons is directly linked to what factors are consideed in their comparison.
I am not saying I don’t believe gender discrimination exists. I am merey pointing out another factor that needs to be taken into consideration.

Doubt this? Even the *San Francisco chapter of NOW* has abandoned the argument that women aren’t paid equitably with accurately peer-matched men. NOW kept getting their chops busted on the facts, so they’ve moved on to an argument they think they can win–that women ought to be corrected upward, to compensate for various personal choices that the workplace penalizes (the bankrupt “comparable worth” argument again.) Here’s a link. http://www.hoover.org/publications/uk/3412886.html

Still believe it’s sexism? Men who drop out of the workforce have their subsequent earning penalized far worse than women do. Continuous time in the workforce is the single biggest variable affecting pay, but it’s not a sexist one–despite what the feminist rhetoric likes to claim.

Wow. That is probably one of the more ill-informed posts on this blog. For those of you men who don’t think pay discrimination exists, Google “woman pay discrimination study” and the first 20 links that pop up will be reputable studies by very reputable institutions that blatantly state is it quite obvious the pay gap exits.

I understand it isn’t the Courts place to change the law, that is Congress’s job. But I cannot tell you how disheartening it is to read so many people write that women deserve to be paid less. That women don’t advance above their male peers because they don’t work as hard or as much or don’t push the envelope as much as men.

That’s as ignorant as saying racism disappeared with the Civil Rights Act. (And no I am not a minority, I’m white and very much realize how pertinent racism still plays a role in our country. Do a little effing research for god sakes. Get to know someone who is a minority and try and understand some of the ways they are treated.)

And lest, for those of you who love to spout the greatness of “capitalism”, just remember this – Jesus was a socialist. He quite often went to bat against the “capitalists” of his time for the atrocities they poured (and still do) on the people who make them money. You tell me what CEO in this country would give the shirt off of their back to their poor brother.

Equal pay for equal work is PRECISELY the intent. Period.

http://www.slate.com/id/2167286/

You are completely correct in suggesting that an employee (male, female, black, white, or belonging to any other group or groups possibly subject to discrimination) may not KNOW what employees in comparable positions with comparable experience may be receiving in the form of pay and benefits.

I liked MBS’ suggestion that all employees’ salaries be posted publicly, but I’d like to suggest that they be posted without the employees’ names and WITH the employees’ job title and years of service with the company. Sure, some identities could be deduced from that information, but it would provide as much privacy as possible under those conditions.

If anything, it is men who are discriminated against these days. Companies actively seek out women to promote and are aware of the numbers. They will promote women just because of their gender because they are afraid of lawsuits like this one, and the one recently against GE. That’s the reality of today.