The second part of my presentation also refers to differences between men and women but this time it is not so funny. It refers to differences in remuneration of both sexes.
First of all, I would like you to read a short passage taken from article published in Washington Post on 30 July 2007.
“About 10 years ago, a group of graduate students lodged a complaint with Linda C. Babcock, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University: All their male counterparts in the university's PhD program were teaching courses on their own, whereas the women were working only as teaching assistants.
That mattered, because doctoral students who teach their own classes get more experience and look better prepared when it comes time to go on the job market.
When Babcock took the complaint to her boss, she learned there was a very simple explanation: "The dean said each of the guys had come to him and said, 'I want to teach a course,' and none of the women had done that," she said. "The female students had expected someone to send around an e-mail saying, 'Who wants to teach?' " The incident prompted Babcock to start systematically studying gender differences when it comes to asking for pay raises, resources or promotions. And what she found was that men and women are indeed often different when it comes to opening negotiations.”
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/29/AR2007072900827.html
I would like you to think a moment above the above described situation. The article was published in 2007, i.e. three years ago.
Do you think the situation was the same in Poland at that time?
Do you really think that men are more self-confident and they say openly what they want if we consider career opportunities? Or maybe it is not the truth and you now more women have better professional positions than men? Think about yourself, some of us are working now. Do you remember how you were applying for your job? Were you struggling to get a better position or were you satisfied with what was offered to you?
Right now, please have a look at the following movie and think it over while watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4vvN9XU5qA
source: youtube.com
What do you think about what you have just watched? Do you think that the gap between the salaries of men and women is still growing or is it decreasing?
Do you think that pregnancy anyhow influences the salaries of women? Do you think that after the maternity leave women lose their qualifications/skills?
What do you think about what was said about the education and choice of professions?
Do you think that women in fact tend to choose the professions that are less-paid?
Recently, there is an informative advertisement on the radio and TV telling that women and men in Poland receive various remuneration even though they graduated from the same studies; they have the same level of experience and they are equally successful.
Is it the reality that men and women at the same positions have different salaries? What are your observations? Think about the persons you know.
Right now, please watch the movie and think what in fact influences the whole situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs_avU7Nv0c&feature=related
source:youtube.com
Do you think these are the negotiation skills that really create the gap?
Think about the past. How many of women you know were employed as managers 15 years ago and how many are now? Have you observed that the situation has changes recently?
Who do you think is responsible for the gap between men’s and women’s salaries?
Dear Colleagues, I do not believe that you have never heard about the 'remuneration gap'. Even if you do not work, for sure, you know people who shared their experiences with you. If this is not the case, please watch the above movie and try to comment on what you have watched.
ReplyDeleteIt's a complicated topic which you're describing here. Remuneration gap is the toughest one, for me. I don't know if I should blame employers that give less money to women or if I should blame women because they don't fight for salaries that much. Maybe it's both of those things. I really can't think of much more about that.
ReplyDeleteIf you do not know who shall be blamed, maybe you can think if the gap really exists in your environment. It is possible that women in your environment earn more than men holding the same positions. Could you please think about this?
ReplyDeleteSince when do we live in centrally planned economy? If someone does not like his or her work conditions then he\she may quit and find another job or start own business.
ReplyDeleteCompany for which gender\race\eye color etc. is more important then skills is simply less competitive on a free market so for me this problem is artificial.
In my opinion it’s not true that men have more chances to get a better job or more chances to speak with boss about increase or other situation like this. Sometimes when the boss likes all girls and they wear sexy clothes on and a nice smile, he can do for them all they want. Another thing is that when a boss is a female and believes in stereotype that it’s women who are persecuted she can give a woman a pay rise only for this particular reason. Man are always treated in the same way. But to be honest men are often treated more professionally. And when we go back to the first presentation we can find the answers why, because men are more practical what in most of jobs is very important.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read some articles about women on high position I see texts like ’she feels very secure’ or ’she doesn’t want to do this job again’ it’s too much for them. And this is not something to laugh about it’s actually good, because men have better muscles, they are more practical and they can work hard so physical work is perfect for them. It’s different with nice and delicate women, they are more suitable for being a boss for example in a newspaper, clothes shop, gallery and of course earn the same money as men do.
It’s just an idea but women want sexual equality in men’s world but in a woman world there’s no place for men.
Peoples thinking is responsible for the gap between salaries. It's common to think that men are better in IT and women can only be good teachers, nurses etc.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been working long enough to observe the change in working society and womans' place in it :) But I think it's not only due to the fact that man acknowledge them better. I think that woman nowadays feel the need to achieve and they believe in theirselves more.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunetly we still have quite big differences in wages between man and women. Also there are differences in career paths. Social campaigns are trying to address this problem but it will take about 10 years form society get it. Some women also are discriminative to each other and have traditional vision of their role.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting what Radek said. Please read his comment and please let us know if you have heard about the situation when a male boss was treating attractive female employees in a very special way, or a female boss was more eager to prize her female colleagues. Do you agree with the opinion that some head positions are more suitable for men than for women?
ReplyDelete1. It is not the difference between men and women. It is the understanding of the difference between men and women. Men tend to like straight answers and women like to give sings. In this aspect, who is to say men or women are better? The gap is that we never try to understand the gender opposite of ourselves.
ReplyDelete2. I start to see more white color females especially in the financial and service sector of the economy. I would have believed that there are more female managers now than 15 years ago.
3. Attitude, norms and values and how flexible you are in today's world.