Yesterday was Equal Pay Day, the day where women earn (on average) as much as men did in the previous calendar year. As noted by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, women have to work one year, three months, and twelve days to earn what men earn in one year. To mark this year’s Equal Pay Day, Representative Rosa DeLauro and Senator Barbara Mikulski reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act into the House and Congress, respectively.
Now, before you read the title of this post and jump to conclusions, let me say that I’m not suggesting that the gender pay gap is, like the Easter Bunny, imaginary. I’m not going to make any jokes about putting all of your gender pay equity eggs into one paycheck fairness basket, wanting “egg in your beer”, or having to walk on eggshells when talking about gender pay equity.
But I am going to draw a parallel between the gender wage gap and Easter eggs…
There’s great variety among Easter eggs. Some are decorated with the finest bits and baubles, while others are understated. You can paint them any color you like. Some are dyed in extravagant patterns, and some are plainly colored. Some are fragile works of art, while others can stand up to even the most curious of children. And, some are “real” eggs, while others are plastic.
The gender pay gap is a lot like an Easter egg. There’s great variety. The gender pay gap comes in different sizes, depending on what occupations and industries we’re talking about. The gender pay gap can be highly ornamented – like the “77 Cents” Statistic – or it can be plainly colored. Some people love to hunt for Easter eggs – and gender pay gaps – while others would rather wait and see what turns up in their baskets. Like Easter eggs, the outward appearance of gender pay gap statistics depends on what the creator envisions and his skill in finding the comparisons that show what he wants to show. Stunning patterns in brilliant colors can be found if one ignores occupation, industry, work experience, hours worked, career interruptions, compensation expectations and negotiation differences, the cash versus benefits trade-off, and the role of personal choices.
And, like easter eggs, you don’t really know what kind of gender pay gap you have until you break through the shell and really look inside the comparisons being made.