Story is pretty lacking. What do these cities have in common? What could be driving this change in those locations? Otherwise there's not really any new info? Even the report has limited info. Is it considered a problem that some cities see women earning 10-20% more than men? Did we create the same sort of problem we were trying to solve, or is there an explanation?
I don't think it is (or should be) viewed as a problem in itself, but my guess would be that this phenomenon, where it exists, reflects the disparity in educational attainment between men and women. That disparity may warrant some concern, but it's essentially a separate issue.
Isn't this (and career choice) the explaination for the gap the other direction for the other cities? I guess I'm not seeing how this is different. Do you have some numbers showing what you're explaining (sometimes easier for me to see it that way).
I don't have a particular source on hand, but I think it's pretty widely accepted that women outperform men, in terms of attending and graduating college, in the US today. That may not be true within certain STEM specialties, but I'm not sure that (potential) exception to the rule would be sufficient to overwhelm the general trend (outside of a few major tech hotspots, perhaps).
Obviously other factors, such as the availability of high-paying, non-degree-requiring jobs in male-dominated industries (ex. oilfield work) might obfuscate other trends in some cities, but I'd expect young women to increasingly earn more than young men across the country if they continue to outpace them in educational achievement.
I generally agree - the facts are rights, but their application do not address my question. The educational achievement doesn't translate to high paying careers. So women are graduating from college at a higher rate, and getting advanced degrees at a higher rate. But what makes a difference (for pay) is what subjects those degrees are in and what jobs they get after graduation.
For example, I know a woman who has two masters degrees but doesn't really work. She is about 35 and has spent most of her life in school, focusing psychology. Even if she had focused more on working in the field of psychology than just serially earning degrees, she would still be at the lower end of pay due to those jobs paying less than STEM jobs.
This anecdotal experience seems to be backed up by the BLS study that also acknowledges that more women are graduating college but that choice of career/subject has not seen that translate into higher pay. That's why I was wondering what is driving the inverse scenario in those cities. Is it that women are choosing STEM there? Are policies in place that promote women from not working low paying jobs (ie makes it more attractive to be a homemaker instead of pay for childcare while working hospitality etc). Or is it cultural, like lower birth rates or more male caretakers?
Well college grads typically make significantly more than those without college degrees, so if there's enough of an educational attainment gap between men and women in a given city, it shouldn't really matter what anyone majored in. A bachelor's degree in anything is the difference between earning $30k/yr and $50k for many people.
That said, the prevalence (or lack thereof) of high-paying industries with gender-imbalances could also contribute to the scenario described by the article. For example, a notable lack of STEM jobs or a local economy based around healthcare could both lead to a city's young women earning more than its young men.
It seems to me that there is something missing in just analyzing wage gaps between men and women for the same level. For example, I've heard (anecdotally) of a FAANG company where the leadership realized (I'm unclear how, but likely through a grassroots movement) that women earn more than their male counterparts in the same level, but this was due to many of the women being overqualified for their level and being denied promotion to a higher level.
> If they are being denied a promotion, then they're doing the same old job as their male counterpart.
In many tech companies, just because you’re the same level doesn’t mean the work you do is the same, and moreso performance at your work. Another restatement of what I said is that it would be interesting to also consider how quickly men get promoted over women given similar skill sets/levels, which I acknowledge is difficult to quantify.
12 comments
[ 0.29 ms ] story [ 41.9 ms ] threadObviously other factors, such as the availability of high-paying, non-degree-requiring jobs in male-dominated industries (ex. oilfield work) might obfuscate other trends in some cities, but I'd expect young women to increasingly earn more than young men across the country if they continue to outpace them in educational achievement.
For example, I know a woman who has two masters degrees but doesn't really work. She is about 35 and has spent most of her life in school, focusing psychology. Even if she had focused more on working in the field of psychology than just serially earning degrees, she would still be at the lower end of pay due to those jobs paying less than STEM jobs.
This anecdotal experience seems to be backed up by the BLS study that also acknowledges that more women are graduating college but that choice of career/subject has not seen that translate into higher pay. That's why I was wondering what is driving the inverse scenario in those cities. Is it that women are choosing STEM there? Are policies in place that promote women from not working low paying jobs (ie makes it more attractive to be a homemaker instead of pay for childcare while working hospitality etc). Or is it cultural, like lower birth rates or more male caretakers?
That said, the prevalence (or lack thereof) of high-paying industries with gender-imbalances could also contribute to the scenario described by the article. For example, a notable lack of STEM jobs or a local economy based around healthcare could both lead to a city's young women earning more than its young men.
that doesn't make sense.
If they are being denied a promotion, then they're doing the same old job as their male counterpart.
If they're paid more, are they being paid more for doing the same job as their male counterpart?
In many tech companies, just because you’re the same level doesn’t mean the work you do is the same, and moreso performance at your work. Another restatement of what I said is that it would be interesting to also consider how quickly men get promoted over women given similar skill sets/levels, which I acknowledge is difficult to quantify.