Female Pay Inequity

Letter to AJC 6-27-2012

Mona Charen in her opinion piece wrote "Despite endless repetition by democrats and feminists, the idea that women earn less than men for the same work is fiction".  its clear to me that Mona hasn't researched her topic very well. A simple review of many studies reaffirms the gap.

For example a comprehensive study on the gender wage gap was released in 2003 by the staff of the U.S. Government Accountability Office.  The researchers controlled for "work patterns," including years of work experience, education, and hours of work per year, as well as differences in industry, occupation, race, marital status, and job tenure. With controls for these variables in place, the data showed that women earned, on average, 20% less than men during the entire period 1983 to 2000. 

More recently, women’s earnings were found to be  lower than men's earnings in all states according to the Income, Earnings, and Poverty Data from the 2007 American Community Survey by the Census Bureau. The national female-to-male earnings ratio was 77.5 %

The Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzed the gap in 2010 by level of education and found that across  the board  women earn less than men with the same educational accomplishment. The median weekly earnings ratio for women as compared to men is 80% for PHDs, 76% for Masters, 77% for Bachelors, 76% for Associates, and 76% for High School graduates.

This shameful practice must stop. The first step in solving an issue is to admit and accept the problem exists.  We need politicians and media who know the facts and are willing to change processes for the good of the people, not for the flawed ideology of the party.