In my first article on this subject, I asked for some type of documentation that took all of the variables into account, showing that women are indeed, getting paid less for equal work. I repeatedly asked for something that took into account, hours worked, level of responsibility and stablity of tenure in a given position.
What I kept getting was links to sites that showed a female customer service rep (for example) got paid on average, $50 less per week. None of the vairiables were included. Or I would get links showing that overall, across all industries, full time and part time, women make on average, $0.77 less per hour. Again, this doesn't take into account the above mentioned variables. Hell, it doesn't even take into account, like positions. Or I would get links showing the unadjusted gap and including statements about what the adjusted gap would be...but nothing backing up the claims on the adjusted gap.
As I stated in that article, I don't dispute that overall, women are making $0.77 cents less as a national average, across all positions. But that doesn't support the EQUAL WORK part of the "Equal Pay for Equal Work" argument.
I can only assume that either I failed to communicate what I was looking for, or I used too much industry lingo from my job. So I decided to break it down to a simpler level, just to see where everyone's heads at and why.
Below is a scenario about Mary and Bob. After the scenario, there are three choices for answers. Please pick your answer and explain why you picked it. View this as similar to one of those logic problems we all faced on those dreaded standardized tests in school.
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Mary and Bob both work for "Big Giant Company". They both have the same title of Regional HR Director. Mary and Bob go way back. They went to the same college, majored in the same studies and even had the same GPA.
One day, the computer illiterate CEO of "Big Giant Company" had to send the 2011 end of year payroll to the VP of HR. But since he's computer illiterate, he hit 'select all' and ended up emailing the end-of-year payroll to everyone in the company, causing a shit-storm.
Mary saw from the email that Bob made $72,000 in 2011 and she only made $66,500. She was thoroughly incensed and marched straight to her boss's office, threatening legal action for being paid less as a women than Bob, even though their education and job title was identical.
A) Mary is right to consider legal action. She is a prime example of the Gender Gap and is not getting equal pay for equal work.
B) Mary is wrong in considering legal action. As long as the company is paying her within the stated salary range of the opportunity for the position, she has no legitimate beef.
C) Not enough information was provided to make a determination whether or not Mary is a victim of the "Equal Pay for Equal Work" argument.
