I learned something about the Wage Gap today...very illuminating:

[bicentennial_baby]

(The horizontal wage gap, that is, btwn men and women)

An average female H.S. graduate will earn $700,000 less than a male H.S. graduate, over the course of her lifetime

A Bachelor's degree? 1.2 million

A Graduate degree? 2 million


Kinda puts that $0.77 per dollar figure into perspective, eh?

*This data was from Evelyn Murphy, the first and former female Lt. governor of MA, who is a PhD Economist and the author of "Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men and What To DO About it"*

[Crazy Dave]

1. And they're going to make even less under Obama

Oh the injustice of it all :sarcasm:

[Demit]

2. But...but...that's so pessimistic! And victim-like!

There was a thread earlier today from which I learned that this is not true for women under 40. Only older women perceive this wage gap to be true. Because they have a chip on their shoulder and need an excuse for failure. Just thought you'd like to know that things have magically changed :)

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Wow, that person should have been at the conference I was at today...

Jeebus. Maybe Teresa Heinz, Evelyn Murphy, Lilly Ledbetter and Rocio Saenz could have convinced them.

[KSCFAN]

3. Average Woman or women with kids?

Just curious.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. I assume it's an average of all women

:shrug:

[David__77]

6. I would be interested in controlling for number of labor hours worked.

Presumably, this is at least in part explained by the fact that many women take extended periods off of work to care for newborns/infants. I think this would have to be controlled for. That wage gap continues to narrow not so much due to a change in wages but to due to women assuming a greater role as full-time workers.

[bicentennial_baby]

7. I would guess that Dr. Murphy did control for these things...

She doesn't seem the type to toss stats around recklessly. I haven't read the book yet, or looked at the underlying data analysis.

There *is* actual gender based wage discrimination. Ask Lilly Ledbetter.

[elehhhhna]

8. It's VERY expensive to stay home. Hubs stayed for 5 years w/ the babies,

& a few years later & a few less-than-satisfactory daycare providers, i stayed home for 5.

That 10 years cost us, at minimum, 500K gross...plus lost vesting, 401k match...

We called it "The best childcare we can't afford."