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Quote by: inri  This debate brings to mind a friend of mine who worked for an oil company. It was his job to hire the engineers who worked under him. He sheepishly admitted to me that given the choice between and equally qualified male and an equally qualified female, both fresh out of school in their twenties, he'd gravitate towards choosing the male....why? Because he told me, it was highly likely that the female would bail out in a couple of years to have children and may or may not return back to job. If she did in fact return after taking maternity leave, it was quite likely she'd take on the role as primary care giver, as well as engineer severely limiting the job performance, dedication and time spent on job. The upheaval this would cause to his office was viewed by him as a negative. At first I was outraged at his stance. However after some thought on the subject I changed my mind.
How can someone be blamed for desiring the employee that they view as being the most stable and providing the best chance for longterm, uninterupted employment? As much as we'd like to say this isn't fair, the truth is it's asking someone to deny the facts before them in favor of acting in a manner that's considered politically correct.
If disparity exists between wages for men and women it is due to this factor.
Bearing children is and should always be a personal choice. There is nothing that says all people (or women) must pro-create - however as a society we seem to have this attitude that procreation is a given. It is not - and evidenced by the poor parenting skills, and absentee parenting we see today, it should not be. It is a lifestyle choice that involves huge responsibility and not everyone is apparently cut out to take on this responsibility....
The fact is that although men become fathers, they do not bear children. Fair or unfair this is simply the way it is. When women begin to enter professional careers with the same amount of dedication as men (not bearing children) then wages can be expected to be equal...until then, it's a nice idea but not really a practical one. |
A wholly reasonable position.
Your hunch, FWIW, is borne out by the data. Department of Labor statistics show that
childless women make within a statistical margin of error to their male counterparts, adjusting for other factors like age, experience, geography, etc.