Last edited Thu Mar 20, 2014, 05:11 PM - Edit history (1)
The main problem for women obtaining the same pay as men, is that they are not men and what Employers want are married men. Thus women are judge on how equal they are to a man doing the same job and the same pace, with the same time off the job for other activities, a man with a wife at home to do things like keeping his children, running errands for him etc.
My sister, an engineer, notice this, her co-working male engineers had their wives do a lot of the little things, like taking their car to the mechanic, making sure his children go to school and see their doctors etc. At the same time she did not have a "Wife" to do the same things and thus had to take more breaks from work to do those things. This is true as to working mothers as while as single women.
Thus Women are being judged as how well they can do the same job as a Married man with a wife. Please note, it not doing the actual work that is the big question, but how much time does the man have to be away from that work compared to a woman. Child bearing tends to be joint between parents and parents claim that is the case, but studies have shown it is not (child rearing tends to fall on the mother more then the father in most relationships).
Until people accept that raising children is a job most people do, and accept that as part of having an employee, women's pay will never equal men's. Day care is part of the answer, but why not permit children to be around their parents in the office? At work? Permitting Mother's to bring their pre school age children into work with them would solve a lot of the problems such women have in obtaining equal pay.
Another way is to REQUIRE BOTH PARENTS to take off work for a year after birth of the child, so BOTH parents lose the same amount of time on the job. That would include having to come up with a way to pay both parents, but it is a way to make woman be viewed as equal to men, as oppose to being mother with dependent children. Please note, it has to be REQUIRED for both parents to take off, if it voluntary, men will not, even as women do (and presure will be put on women to get back to work, for otherwise they are NOT doing the same level of work as are men)
No one wants to address the issue behind equal pay, for that means addressing the issue of Motherhood and Fatherhood and until the due employers will pay Married Men more then women, even single women without children.
One of the problems with equal rights for women, is what is equal? As long as the standard is that of a man with a wife, women will NEVER be equal for women are NOT men. Everyone says they support equal rights for women, but then avoid defining what is equal. The courts have had to deal with this problem and have long adopted a policy that, unlike racial discrimination, some discrimination based on sex is legal even under the 1964 Civil Rights Act when it comes to Equal Rights for women. This is called Intermediate Scrutiny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_scrutiny
The main difference between Intermediate and Strict Scrutiny is that it is extremely hard to find justification under Strict Scrutiny (the only case to find such justification was the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. subsequent cases have indicated that the courts view that as a product of the fears of WWII and thus not given much weight).
On the other hand Intermediate Scrutiny requires solid evidence to justify such discrimination in treatment, but if the evidence is overwhelming the court will uphold such discrimination. The US Supreme Court has had a hard time determining a case as justified by Intermediate Scrutiny, simply because such cases are fact based and thus up to the Judge at trial to determined (on appeal the factual findings of the Trial Judge must be follow, you can only appeal that Judge's finding of law). In simple terms, it is often up to the Trial Judge to determine if enough facts have been presented to justify sexual discrimination. Thus local courts have upheld separate rest rooms for men and women for example (Through trans gender cases have brought this up to dispute at times). Women could be required to wear bras, if men are required to wear T-Shirts, but a requirement that women wear a bra, but men can be bare chested has been ruled to violate the 1964 Civil Rights Acts.
Women can be required to wear "Women's clothes" and men "men's clothes" as long as the difference is clear (for example an employer can NOT force women to wear makeup, when men do not have to). Employers can require women to wear the equivalent of a man's suit and tie, as long as the men are required to wear a suit and tie (Employers can NOT require women to wear more clothing then men, that is back to bras again, i.e employers can NOT require women to wear bras, but no equivalent requirement for men).
Employers can NOT discriminate against women, because working with lead could harm their ovaries, all or most of which were formed before they were born, but then permit men to work with lead on the grounds sperm is something men produce all the time, and die off and replaced within 48 hours of production. On the other hand employers can rule men can not go into dressing rooms with women, even when it is common practice for women to do so when fitting clothes.
Sports teams can NOT exclude female sports reporters from dressing rooms, if they leave male reporters in.
The cases are many, but in most cases discrimination against one sex has been ruled violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Acts even under Intermediate Scrutiny. When such discrimination has been upheld is cases where it was clear that you had more this prejudice for the difference in treatment.
The problem is in most of the above cases the standard was one of viewing the woman as equal to a man. In most cases that provides the best solutions, but every so often that is NOT the case. Thus Intermediate Scrutiny is used. The problem is men and women ARE different, not equal and that difference has to be taken in account when dealing with BOTH SEXES.
Thus employers want married men, and how can a woman equal that? Married men have someone who can do a lot of crap work that has to be done in any household, including making sure the Children get to school. Women have a problem, for in most pair couples, the duties of child raising falls more on women then men.
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