The ad above pretends that women get paid less than men because of anti-female discrimination. In reality, the wage gap exists for many legitimate reasons, including:

1) Men work longer hours at more demanding and hazardous jobs.

2) Men are more likely to travel, relocate or have long commutes for their jobs.

3) Men are more likely to have more years and more consecutive years of experience, because women are more likely to work part time or take years off of work to care for their children.

Given these factors, it would be very hard for men to not earn considerably more than women. When men and women of matched qualifications are working in matched jobs, women earn as much as men do.

I saw the ad on www.feministing.com. And of course, no blog post on www.feministing.com or Amanda Marcotte's www.pandagon.net would be complete without an F-Bomb or two, so Jessica Valenti writes:

I kind of love the parallel: because the wage gap is like a big fuck you to women.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Feminism/NOW, Men, Women and Work. You can trackback from your own site.