Source: whitehouse.gov
The explosion in women’s professional education just after the pill became widely available
07 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of education, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: economics of fertility, engines of liberation, female labour supply, gender wage gap, reversing gender gap, The Pill
Source: whitehouse.gov
Another boy’s own analysis by the IMF of the decline of unions and inequality in recent decades
06 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply Tags: decline of unions, female labour force participation, gender analysis, gender wage gap, IMF, reversing gender wage gap, union power
we find strong evidence that lower unionization is associated with an increase in top income shares in advanced economies during the period 1980–2010
Gender analysis! Gender analysis! Where is the gender analysis, which is central to any analysis of inequality in and outside of the labour market!
Women have done swimmingly over the last few decades in terms of closing the gender wage gap, increasing labour force participation and overtaking men in investment in higher education.
Who's the weaker sex? Women now make up the majority of university students around the world econ.st/1x1cUli http://t.co/6YWv6SuQc4—
The Economist (@TheEconomist) March 13, 2015
As for unions and women, their record of discrimination against women as threat to the union wage premium was so appalling that even Hollywood was willing to take a swipe at unions and the hostility with which mining unions, for example, greeted the first female miners.
In spite of women’s early involvement in labour struggles, deeply ingrained prejudices against women taking a full role in the workplace were often reinforced by labour unions themselves. Women were seen as mere auxiliaries to the movement, or worse, as threats to men’s jobs.
HT: whitehouse.gov
Are women just too smart to be computer scientists?
02 Mar 2015 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, reversing gender gap
Women started drifting away from computer science in the mid-1980s. The interpretation put forward by the professional grievance industry, that is, by National Public Radio in the USA is:
The share of women in computer science started falling at roughly the same moment when personal computers started showing up in U.S. homes in significant numbers.
These early personal computers weren’t much more than toys. You could play pong or simple shooting games, maybe do some word processing.
And these toys were marketed almost entirely to men and boys. This idea that computers are for boys became a narrative. It became the story we told ourselves about the computing revolution. It helped define who geeks were, and it created techie culture.
Source: NPR
Another interpretation is there are systematic differences between teenage boys and teenage girls in verbal and written skills. Young women moved away from enrolling in computer science because they could make better use of their superior written and verbal skills in medicine and law. Computer science is for those with inferior social skills, on average.
As for computers in the early days been marketed to men and boys, people with inferior verbal and reading skills would be attracted to sitting in front of the computer playing games because of their inferior social skills. Computers were expensive back in the 80s so marketing them to people with fewer social skills is sensible as they were more willing to spend money to fill the extra time they spend on their own.
The difference in reading and verbal skills between girls and boys at the age of 15 is equal to 6-months extra schooling. Six months schooling explains a lot of the wage gaps on ethnic, racial and gender lines. Not surprisingly, fewer women do computer science because their superior reading and verbal skills qualify them for medicine and law where they can take greater advantage of their mix of talents.
It is all about being the best you can be. As many women as men ending up in STEM occupations does not necessarily mean people are making the choices that help them be the best they can be because some women may not be taking advantage of their superior reading skills.
Longer Maternity Leave Not So Great for Women After All
01 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in economics Tags: gender wage gap, maternity leave, unintended consequence
The left-wing parties around the world and in New Zealand have long tried to keep women’s wages down and hold their careers back by increasing the generosity of maternity leave.
Francine Blau argues that:
- Family-friendly policies make it easier for women to combine work and family and women’s advancement at work. Such policies facilitate the labor force entry of less career-oriented women (or of women who are at a stage in the life cycle when they would prefer to reduce labor market commitments).
- Long, paid parental leaves and part-time work may encourage women who would have otherwise had a stronger labor force commitment to take part-time jobs or lower-level
positions. - Such policies may lead employers to engage in statistical discrimination against women for jobs leading to higher-level positions, if employers cannot tell which women are likely to avail themselves of these options and which are not. These policies may leave women less likely to be considered for high-level positions.
More women will work more women will work as a result of maternity leave, but more of these women all work part time, instead of full-time.
At bottom, paying women to spend extended periods of time out of the workforce at crucial times of their career in their late 20s and their 30s does them no favours in terms of advancing their careers.
Where women fare worst and best in the labour market in terms of cash wages
25 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics Tags: compensating differences, gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Occupations that most value long hours, face time at the office and being on call — like business, law and surgery — tend to have the widest pay gaps. That is because those employers pay people who spend longer hours at the office disproportionately more than they pay people who don’t, Dr. Goldin found. A lawyer who works 80 hours a week at a big corporate law firm is paid more than double one who works 40 hours a week as an in-house counsel at a small business.
Jobs in which employees can easily substitute for one another have the slimmest pay gaps, and those workers are paid in proportion to the hours they work.
Pharmacy is Dr. Goldin’s favorite example. A pharmacist who works 40 hours a week generally earns double the salary of a pharmacist who works 20 hours a week, and as a result, the pay gap for pharmacists is one of the smallest.
via artdiamondblog.com.
Richard Posner on libertarian scepticism about law as an engine of women’s liberation
25 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
The power of the asymmetric marriage premium
25 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: asymmetric marriage premium, gender wage gap
How are women doing in the US when it comes to political & business leadership positions
23 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of marriage, gender, labour economics, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: engines of liberation, gender wage gap
Lessons from a Feminist Paradise
12 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of love and marriage, gender, labour economics, population economics Tags: gender wage gap
The media market works: US media is slightly to the left of centre
12 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, survivor principle Tags: demand for social insurance, gender wage gap, media bias
As discussed before, to survive in a competitive market, media outlets must serve that market as best they can.
The reader or viewer that is most likely to turn off or otherwise switch to another activity are women, often mothers. Women tend to be to the left than me because of their greater demand for social insurance.
To keep their most marginal viewers, media outlets pitch their stories slightly left of centre, aimed at women who are most likely to switch off if they are not seeing what they want to see.
The labour force participation of mothers in the 20th century
30 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in gender, labour economics, labour supply Tags: engines of liberation, female labour force participation, gender wage gap, sex discrimination
First, work changed to offer more jobs to women. Farming declined sharply; industrial jobs peaked and then declined. Brawn became less important; precise skills, learning, and personal service became more important.
The new economy generated millions of white-collar and “pink-collar” jobs that seemed “suited” to women. That cannot be the full story, of course; women also took over many jobs that had once been men’s, such as teaching and secretarial work.
Second, mothers responded to those job opportunities. Some took jobs because the extra income could help families buy cars, homes, furnishings, and so on. Some took jobs because the family needed their income to make up for husbands’ stagnating wages (a noteworthy trend after the 1970s). And some took jobs because they sought personal fulfilment in the world of work.
via Why Did Married Mothers Go To Work? » Sociological Images.
Gender pay gap: do women earn 77% of what men do?
22 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of love and marriage, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: employer discrimination, gender wage gap, sex discrimination
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