Crowdsourcing: ‘the gender wage gap’

One issue I have been skeptical of is what is often referred to as ‘the gender wage gap’ – an alleged disparity of earnings between women and men in the workplace. The statistics stipulating that women earn less than men in the workplace seem quite suspect and are often used to draw conclusions which are not claimed in research (for instance, evidence of women earning less than men in the workplace is not necessarily evidence of discrimination, but can be better explained as women working fewer hours or neglecting to work certain jobs).

Might the ‘gender wage gap,’ if it exists, be best explained by choices women and women make in the workplace or something else? What, exactly, is being compared in various studies and what conclusions can reasonably be drawn from the data?

This is where you can come in and contribute to a discussion about this issue which will inform an upcoming term paper I will write for my human development class.

Here are some pieces which can get the discussion started:

http://www.consad.com/content/reports/Gender%20Wage%20Gap%20Final%20Report.pdf

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/opinion/york-male-secretaries

http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-male-dominated-industries-and-occupations-us-and-canada

http://karlaporter.com/on-the-job/same-major-less-compensation-for-recent-female-grads

As always, feel free to comment below.