Here’s the question:
“Do you believe the statement “women earn only 77 percent of what men earn for equal work?”
Here is how UFI readers responded:
15 percent Yes, and things need to change!
19 percent Yes, but there’s more to this story.
63 percent No, that’s baloney!
3 percent Don’t know
April 12th was noted as “Equal Pay Day” by the National Committee for Pay Equity. According to the National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority and other feminist groups this is the day is noteworthy because women have to work that far into a calendar year before they are able to earn what men already earned the year before.
But the vast majority of UFI readers aren’t buying it – including the folks who said “no, that’s baloney” and those who voted for “Yes, but there’s more to this story.” There is definitely a lot more to the story and we’re going to be covering some of the factors that go into the calculation of the male/female wage gap. But you’ll have to check back with us on Monday for our Myth Buster series where we’re going to address this topic at length.
Here are just a few factors:
- Women on average work fewer hours
- Women choose different professions
- Men are more willing to relocate and travel, in addition to willingness to work more dangerous and dirty jobs.
Come back on Monday to see more!