I was looking at a wage comparison chart recently, and there is a disgusting disparity between males and females in certain fields...so much so that it is more than a 75 cents to the dollar difference. On a personal level, I am met with the assumption that I am going to work with young children as opposed to secondary education or on the college-level. I don't know firsthand if/how there is sexism in this field other than the obvious wage discrepancy, though perhaps some research could be done on my part regarding which professors receive publication etc.

This is partially in response to Kerri's comments on wage discrepancy in education. The American Association of University professors has published data on faculty wages in higher education (availible at http://www.aaup.org/surveys/zrep.htm). According to the study, Nationally, the average female salary was 88.4 percent of the average male salary at the full professor level, 93.0 percent of it at the associate professor level, and 92.3 percent of it at the assistant professor level in 2003–04. These percentages have been remarkably stable over the past fifteen years. Several factors may account for the gap between the salaries of faculty men and women, including gender differences in the distribution of faculty across disciplines and disciplinary disparities in salaries."

What I had intended as the point here did not necessarily have to do with salaries, although that is certainly one area in which gender discrimination is manifest. More situations like the one described above, where women are not allowed the same privileges as men, perhaps with the rationale that few women exist in an organization, which is itself a symptom of organizationally sexist policies and attitudes.

However, you do bring up an interesting phenomenon - that of "pink collar" fields and academic disciplines. Precisely why would it be the case that the same academic disciplines that are less highly compensated are the ones that include a high percentage of female faculty?

house9-- Yeah, I know you were getting at things besides the money, and luckily what I have encountered so far in this particular field has been limited to that where differences are concerned. I wasn't referring to the pink collar ghetto of teachers in the school setting, but of professors in a college one, which is a very different dynamic. Teachers of children are primarily female, while teachers of adults tend to be male. The statistics that I saw regarding the wage difference indicated that women with a doctoral degree who were teaching at universities/colleges made roughly half what their male counterparts were. Not 80% or 90%, but half. I did forget one thing...at an ALA meeting I attended, there were far more white males (balding, no less), than females or people of color. I did not do a head count, but it must have been a 10:1 ratio. I'm speculating, but I'm sure part of this difference had to do with the fact that the conference was held in an expensive hotel, and most women are not going to be able to bring children along at that price.

I wouldn't be surprised by the statistic Kerri saw regarding women with doctorates, and this may well dovetail into house9's concern over the disparity in priviledge between men and women in the workforce. The AAUP's study focused on full-time, tenure track professsors at a number of colleges and universities (I made a mistake in my previous post: the majority of the second half, starting with "Naturally," was actually a direct quote from AAUP, not my writing).

They didn't discuss adjuncts, who are paid significantly less, often have no priviledges, and are predominantly women (many of whom have PhDs). Add this into the discussion, and I wouldn't be surprised if women on average earned 40-50% less. I know that the vast majority of adjuncts at my institution are women. The pay gap also seems to vary widely, from campus to campus.

The AAUP has additional research at http://www.aaup.org/Issues/WomeninHE/index.htm They're a pro-faculty organization attempting to address a variety of issues, but their statistics seem to be widely used when it comes to addressing inequal pay.

My response is here. Be sure and follow the in link to Equality, Hell - how about Reparations?! It's a classic, if I do say so myself. hee.

Wow. I think one of the most powerful (and disturbing) part of the police force story is how insidious sexism is on the part of the male police officers.

One of the best classes I've taken in college was a class on the psychology of gender. My prof gave an excellent two-part definition of sexism. The first is traditional sexism; garden variety misogyny, typified by beliefs that women are inferior to men. The second is, in many ways, the worse of the two: modern sexism is the belief that men and women are equal in today's society, so any discussion about "women's rights" and "discrimination" is totally gratuitous.

One of the reasons that all the hoopla over dear old Reagan's death made me sick to my stomach was that I think his administration was so effective in commandeering a feminist backlash in the 80s, that people (perhaps a large majority of American women) think that feminism is dead, and that things are relatively equal. I just wish every working woman would take a look at the 75 cents for a $1 figure--because we have a right to be outraged, and we have a right to do something about it.

One of the things that can help with the pay gap, at least, is if we get over the taboo of talking about money. Know how much other people make, so you can know if you are being shortchanged. Many employers benefit from women simply not knowing how much money they could reasonably bargain for.

So, here's mine: on my blog.

One thing that occurs to me as useful is the salary survey. It's promoted as a tool for job negotiations (so everyone knows what market value for their skills would be), but if we could encourage more organizations to segment these surveys by gender (could also work for age, race, etc.), it would give us a better sense of what women vs. men made in our field or local area, if not at our specific company.

I've had a few experiences with pay inequity; I am experiencing one right, now, although I don't know if I can link it to sexism. I do know that a friend of mine linked it to sexism when he recommended this book to me as a result of my LJ complaints about standing up to my boss and telling him I won't change my responsibilities without a pay raise.

Now I have to say I have mixed feelings about this kind of book (and there are quite a few like it out there). The mentality that says that women don't speak for themselves and don't stand up and ask for things that their male counterparts just assume they are entitled to is an interesting one, but it comes with this somewhat insidious side note: that women's behavior is inferior to men's in the workplace and needs to be changed. Read some of the reviews of the book, and you'll see what I mean. Is the book encouraging us to break free of gender roles, or is it just reinforcing the stereotype?

As a woman in a non-trad field (industrial design), I have been battling this issue daily for over 20 years. I'd really like to say I see progress, but I do not. Example: the numbers are just not there: the few women in this field must constantly run a gauntlet of proving one's self over and over to these men...and then doing it again and again.
The degree of competence one aspires to is crippled by the "boys only" mentoring process that goes on.
There are, however, two redeeming factors: the pay is excellent, and the work very interesting.

I've been off on vacation and am WAY behind on postings, but believe it or not this one stuck in my mind while I was ON VACATION!!! Finally got around to responding to this one here