As Women Take Over Male-Dominated Industries, Pay Decreases

[Anonymous]

A study found that pay decreases in industries once more women join the workforce. Examples were:

-57% hourly wage for recreational workers

-43% for ticket officers

-34% for designers

-21% for housekeepers

-19% for biologists,

etc

Meanwhile industries that used to be predominantly female, like computer programming, started paying more once men replaced women in the field.

This falls in line with the idea that the difference in pay between men and women is not necessarily due to ambition, but due to different social valuation of male and female labor. 30 of the highest paying jobs are male-dominated. 26 of the lowest paying ones are female dominated.

I'm not sure why that's the case, I don't think there's a conscious effort that goes into devaluating female professions. It could be that women ask for less money. Or that women are offered less promotions and raises.

I'm from a small country in Europe, where being a teacher is one of the best paid positions and most secure jobs a person can have, and the field is completely dominated by women. So that makes me believe that it's not just the necessity of the jobs that defines the pay, nor the ambition of the women.

There's a reason why women are getting paid less, even than men were for the same jobs just a few years ago, and we should figure out what it is, not just dismiss it as "women choose to want less."

https://academic.oup.com/sf/article-abstract/88/2/865/2235342

http://www.nber.org/papers/w21913

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/upshot/as-women-take-over-a-male-dominated-field-the-pay-drops.html

[Anonymous]

I just think:
women are less confident
Women don't believe they could really be the bread winner of the family, so they lack purpose and that affects how they deal with income decisions and expectations.
Women are physically weaker so even though it might seem irrelevant, they are not taken as seriously
The entire female population hasn't been in the job market as long as men, so they may be clueless or underinformed about the true worth and value of a job well done
They don't have a good idea of how difficult it is to support a family financially
A lot of them just work for fun and extra spending money or just for getting out of the house, or being in society, or feeling important; basically all the wrong reasons instead of just for the money
They are less risk taking and daring and so more emotionally vulnerable when negotiating their pay
Subconsciously they don't feel like working is as important, valuable, or satisfying as raising kids

[Opinion Owner]

Plus, employers know all of this and take advantage of it.

[Opinion Owner]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I believe women are generally physically weaker than men, so even if they have good brains, and even if it's just an office job, women run out of energy faster and that affects their productivity negatively.