Gender, Race, and Class Myths About the Wage Gap

Something that was brought to my attention on Tuesday was when Dr. Whitson was talking about the wage gap between her husband and herself. Does a person's wages really depend on gender, race, class, etc.? According to Felice Yeskel's article, Opening Pandora's Box: Adding Classism to the Agenda, the income and wealth gap is disproportional between races and classes. Below I will draw your attention to other reasons as to why a wage gap exists between genders, and these reasons very well so could relate to race and class wage gaps also.

This topic interested me because of a recent article I read from the book "Women Don't Ask," written by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever. These two women, Professors from Carnegie Mellon University, concluded other reasons than gender as to why women don't make as much as men do, even when performing the same job. Babcock and Laschever do several studies and conclude that women don't negotiate as much as men do. They say that if a woman was offered a job with, lets say, a starting salary of $50,000, she would accept it, while a man on the other hand would negotiate his starting salary to be $54,000. Maybe if women started to ask more like their male counterparts, they would get more of the things they want in life? And not just women, maybe other people from other races and classes should do the same. Think of it this way: If a person doesn't negotiate with their employer, the employer isn't going to just give them that extra $4000, would they? No. It must be asked for and that is something that I do firmly believe as to why there is a wage gap between genders regarding the same job. I encourage you all to read this article (I hope it works since it came from a PDF file on BlackBoard, but if not, here is another article), it really made me think outside the "gender box."

Another article from The Washington Post, says that one of the other main reasons for this difference is kids! Yes, this does have to relate to gender roles between men and women because women are the primary caretakers of children, but again, it doesn't show that men and women get paid solely based on gender, but rather their actions. Women without kids actually get paid more then men with or without kids do. It says that more women have college degree's than men do, but it is up to them on how they decide to go forth and use it.

Below is a link to a youtube video. This video makes a good point. The wage gap is not based on discrimination between genders or races. It also states that the .77 cents to a man's $1 is not a downhearted fact. When they make those numbers, they do not compare men and women in the same occupation, but rather as a whole workforce in general. There is a misleading when statistics on wage gaps between races, genders, classes, etc. are computed. They can not compare a white male working for a government agency to a Hispanic male working in a factory. There will clearly be a difference! If a Hispanic man and a white man were both working in a factory for the same amount of time, they will be getting paid equally. The video reinforces this fact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa3pKN3XUKM

Real Life Barbie and if Barbie was Human

After reading Jane Gilman's article about Barbie’s, it had me interested in doing research on the Barbie’s today since that was something I played with as a child. Growing up I never really realized that the majority of the dolls were white, blonde and flawless. As I got older I obviously knew that the Barbie collection isn't as diverse as the world is.  I went through several pages on different shopping websites and saw that the world of Barbie’s is pretty much the same as when Gilman wrote her article. The makers of Barbie are still portraying that "perfect" human image and aren't considering all races, ethnicities, and body types.

 

With that being said, there is a model from Russia named Valeria who has changed her body to look like a Barbie doll. She has spent over $800,000 on all of the surgeries. Since last year she has been named the ‘real-life Barbie’. It’s not that she looks bad, but to me, it’s sad to think she spent all of that money just so she could look like a plastic, unrealistic doll.  When she does her makeup she definitely looks like a doll and to me that’s a little bit scary. I personally don’t want to look like my child hood toy. This video I posted below shows her transformation from a 21 year old blonde to a 21 year old Barbie.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCRIofdL1k8

 

Since Barbie is the "human idol" and are what girls look up to, I found an article that disagrees. It talks about how odd Barbie would look if she were actually human. It compares her proportions to the proportions of an average American woman. One part I found humorous was that she would be too thin to hold her vital organs and that she would have to walk on all fours because her feet are too skinny. Her neck also wouldn't be able to support her head. It also shows Barbie's without make up.   This article even compares Barbie to an average model; which I thought was interesting since models would be the closest people to compare a Barbie with. It’s interesting to think that Barbie's are supposed to portray this idealistic image, but they wouldn't even survive if they were actually real.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/barbie-body-real-life-infographic_n_3057690.html#slide=2319263

"You Don't Know How Hard it is Being a...."

After our class discussion today over gender I got to thinking about the endless debate of which gender has it worse. Who actually does have it harder in life? Guys or girls? I'm sure either gender will tell you differently talking about small, insignificant things that effect everyday life. For example, girls have to look good ALL THE TIME, or guys are better with sports, or even that women have to go through pregnancy. All these small things are just ways we can complain that it is harder for us. Is it really though? Or are we more equal than different in this endless everyday struggle? I suppose it all depends on the way in which you view it.

From a historical standpoint, women have always had it worse. We were not given the right to refuse men in marriage, the right to vote, or the right to equal education. For years women have had to fight to try and become equal with men. We have lost property, career advances, and at some level we have even lost our value in life. Not everything can be viewed in the past however, so we have to look at whats happening right now at the day to day level.

Just typing into Google, "who has it worse, boys or girls?" brings up a huge stream of questions and comments like: "who's worse in relationships," "who's worse during puberty,"and "who lives longer." So many aspects go into deciding which gender is really worse off. Take this post, by user bketeyian, about the more deeply rooted struggles of men and women. He states that women are more likely to have low self-esteem, where as more men have ADHD, but also that women have better communication and verbal abilities where as guys have higher SAT math scores. There are so many pros and cons beyond what we see on a daily basis that go into the debate. Looking at it this way it seems we will never have an answer to this question, just a continuous pile of controversy. So where would you stand? Is either sex really worse? Or are we just both equally challenged by daily life and genetics?

"Look Hot While Working Out"

After class this past Tuesday and reading Higginbotham's piece I started thinking of all the girlish magazines that I had always turned to in middle and high school to finally get out of my awkward stage or how to kiss a boy; but I would mostly find myself in the nutrition and fitness section.  I had fallen victim to looking like a fitness model and I still am, but I don't see that as a bad thing.  Fitness and nutrition plays such a big role in everyone's overall well being.  Of course I am no fitness model but it's always a goal I can personally strive towards.  I have always thought that women's magazines did an overall good job of providing exercises as well as diet tips.

That is until I was reading my twitter feed this morning.  One of the accounts that I follow is Women's Health Magazine on Twitter who tweeted an article with the caption "Look Hot While Working Out." I am not one to ever read links from my twitter feed, since that was all I did Fall of 2012 in Journalism 1010, but they definitely did a good job of catching my eye.  I don't know if it is worse that the magazine editor let this be printed in the magazine or the fact that there will be a lot of women at the gym doing this!  I feel bad for the women that believe that you need makeup to look beautiful.  Don't get me wrong because I use makeup regularly and I believe it makes me look more alert and ready for the day as well as accentuate my features, but I wouldn't wear makeup and do my hair a certain way just to go to the gym.  The point of working out is to focus on yourself and bettering yourself, not on finding a boyfriend or impressing other women.  As we discussed in class, I believe it belittles women's role in society to the fact that our sole purpose is to impress others with only our looks versus, in this case, our physical ability. Don't be ashamed of looking bad during or after your workout.  Embrace it!   I have always believed that if you look good in the gym, you are obviously not working hard enough!

Welcome to the WGS1000 F2013 class blog!

Welcome to the WGS1000 class blog. To get inspired about what you might post on this blog and to see the format that blog posts often take, please look at posts from the previous class or check out my favorite blog, Sociological Images!  You may also want to look at my other class blog (for my Social Geographies class) for inspiration. Please feel free to "comment" to this post with examples of other blogs students in our class might find inspiring.

I'm looking forward to a great semester!