arguing the other side- wage inequality among women

It is 2009, and women still get paid less than men. This is not a problem for just the United States; it is worldwide. While society is making progress in other areas of women's rights (woohoo! we can vote and go to school), the ratio of earnings between genders is still not quite balanced.



So clearly, if you are a woman, Sweden is the place to be. It seems that these Nordic European countries, like Sweden and Finland, have an extremely high quality of life: low crime, great public education (usually free), no pollution, and now great pay for women.



I love this spot. This is a Swedish commercial made for Equal Pay Day, which occurs every year and is the date which symbolizes how far into the new year women must work to earn as much as men made by December 31st the previous year. (If you are wondering, Equal Pay Day 2009 is set for April 28th.)

The injustice of paying women less than men is something I just can't believe still exists. I think it is blatantly unethical, and I don't understand how it is even allowed to continue in the work place when everyone knows it is wrong. Despite my rage, I am going to try to argue something...anything...in support of the other side.

Why women should be paid less than men:

Some statistics show that women choose to enter lower paying professions, such as social work or teaching, which indicates it is their decision to work in a lower paying profession. Additionally, women decide to start families and have babies; this leads to women needing to take more time off than men, including maternity leave and the many days taken for sick kids and doctor appointments. Since they are not at work as often, they should not be compensated for hours they are not putting in. Furthermore, because men do not take as many days off, they cost the company less in PTO and should be rewarded. When women do decide to start a family (since this is entirely the woman's decision which she makes with no input, verbally or sexually, from her male partner), they often decide not to return to work at all. This leaves the man as the sole breadwinner who must support the rest of his family, so he needs to make more money to cover the expenses of his unemployed wife and children.

Alright, that's all I got; I really don't think there is any valid argument for the perpetuation of this injustice, but for the sake of the blog I tried.