Women Do Not Deserve to Earn the Same as Men

Last week, I watched some videos on Youtube about politics. The algorithms decided to show me an old video of a controversial man.

He said that women should not receive the same salary as men because they get pregnant.

It could be a random and silly video to ignore and move on, but two things made it impossible.

First, the human being who said that was elected president in 2018. Even after saying a lot of similar bullshits along the way. And second, he represents a big group that shares the same point of view till today.

As I was angry with his declaration, I started looking for data about the salary difference between men and women. What I found was not exactly what I was expecting.

Women produce less than men

We've heard thousands of times that women earn less than men. But screaming it out with anger won't solve the problem (maybe just a bit).

We need to understand the reasons.

I will use an example from my country. Research from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) shows that in 2019 women received around 19% less than men, and in leadership positions, this difference grows to an average of 30%.

The superficial explanation may give the impression that 19% of women are receiving less doing exactly the same functions, in the same company and working the same amount of hours.

But this same research indicates that women, in general, work 36,5 hours weekly while men work an average of 41 hours.

Now, if you said, "I knew it! Feminists are stupid. Women earn less because they don't work so hard as men", shut up and continue reading.

Research done by another Brazilian institution (FEE from the Rio Grande do Sul) went deeper to understand the reasons behind the numbers.

The economists Guilherme Stein and Vanessa Sulzbach analyzed 100,000 salaries and concluded that Brazilian women earn 20% less than men, similar to the IBGE study mentioned before.

But only 7% can be because of macho decisions or other reasons not revealed. That means only 7% cannot be explained by the difference in productivity.

In the USA, the economist Claudia Goldin from Harvard found a percentage of 5% that is not explained per productivity.

So, if macho attitudes are not behind this salary gap, what else is?

The answer may not point to male chauvinists directly in the work environment. Still, it has been caused by a sexist culture in society that undermines women's productivity in their careers.

The lack of home equity for couples

First, we need to talk about couples' lack of home equity.

Managing all the details of the domestic workload is extremely tiring. And although some men are more open to taking care of the house nowadays, women still have the most significant part of the family responsibilities on their shoulders.

No wonder men have better paid and less flexible jobs while women have more flexible jobs and lower wages. Also, the FEE's study indicated that women interrupt their careers more frequently.

It is so obvious!

In the 1980s, sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild wrote about how women have a second shift at home after a full day at the job. In the 2000s, it's still a reality.

Women tend to reorganize all their work and career plans to prioritize family and childcare when necessary. Men don't.

Women force themselves to stay, even unsatisfied, in a job if it offers them the flexibility they need to take care of all other stuff in their personal life.

Women don't negotiate their salary so frequently because they fear becoming expensive. An expensive "resource" for the company can be easily replaced by another "resource" that doesn't have other priorities like family and would not give birth.

But after sex, share the rest

Maybe the rhyme is not so good, but it cannot be denied that when an egg is fertilized, two people have a big responsibility (or maybe more people depending on how this family is structured). The same goes for couples that decide to adopt.

A new life in a family needs care and a lot of attention.

Mothers will work less because they need to interrupt it to take exams during pregnancy, absence of maternity leave, and to take care of the child during work time regularly.

Well, as men don't need to go out to hunt anymore, it's obvious that they need to have the same rights (and commitments) to miss days of work because of children's necessities, including having exactly the same days of paternity leave as women have.

This way, what would be the difference between a man and a woman who intend or already have kids for a company?

And more, it gives some relief for the feminine shoulders to take care of a child that belongs to both parents.

The limiting thoughts that imprison women

We all learned limiting beliefs. Some more, some less.

Women lived for years without recognizing their own value and power. With an intense obsession with achieving a profile of perfection that we learned with family and society, we always needed to struggle to do a lot to receive little to no recognition.

At home, "This house is still a mess." In maternity, "This baby doesn't stop crying." At work, "Can I talk to an expert man?"

A big part of women's work was invisible. With this idealization of perfection to aim in mind, we got used to thinking we need to always do more.

How many women do not blame themselves for one mistake made in a sea of ​​successful tasks done every day?

On the other hand, men have been leading for such a long time. Most of the time, without house and family responsibilities in mind, they had been encouraged to venture since they were kids and supported to dare. Men do what is expected in business to earn more.

Not that I agree, but according to my whole corporate experience, those who earn more are not the best professionals, but those who sell themselves better.

While women are studying and climbing a high mountain to achieve qualifications and make themselves accept they are good for a well-paid qualified job, men have enough self-esteem to achieve high positions with half of the qualifications. They dare negotiate more money. They are in this scenario more time than us and understand the game they themselves created.

While women think they need to regularly prove their value because "at least the company accepted a mother with two kids to raise", men are drinking beer Friday night with coworkers discussing their next promotion. And many times with kids to raise at home with a tired wife waiting for some relief.

The relation between women and money

In the society I lived in for years, I always noticed an awkward relationship between women and money. Concepts hover in the unconscious even of those who rationally disagree with it.

Women who like money are self-serving.

Women who choose a career over a family are selfish.

Women who demand the payment of child support from the father of their children, when separated, are leeches.

When we observe how society is still structured, we see that the wage gap is the tip of the iceberg.

I was raised with childhood stories from Disney with all this fantasy that makes girls who watch it wish to be immaculate and perfect princesses. And worst, expecting a prince to save them.

I feel happy when I see new children's movies where female characters are strong, funny, and daring. We need this inspiration to overwrite all the other limitations taught before.

And what is all related to salary? Everything.

Now you know why women should not earn the same as men — they should earn more!

Among other reasons, women should earn more for historical repair, but you may say, "it doesn't produce money to pay them."

Think about how much money was generated because women were exploited in so many ways and took care of a whole family for men to play as greedy businessmen and warlords.

Throughout history, the efforts of women behind the scenes made humanity generate many resources.

But we don't even need to take this path to justify higher salaries for women.

FEE's research says that women have, on average, more years of education. Women are more specialized.

Women have more knowledge, and when men officially have the same duties as women have, we will have time and better self-esteem to conquer the space that belongs to us.

Now, picture it!

In a fair scenario, women have real partners to share responsibilities in a society where also men need to be away from work to take care of the children with flu. Ladies are not afraid to ask for a salary increase because they know many other companies want their skills.

In a balanced society, women will achieve leading positions more easily. Women leading are more likely to prefer those who are more capable and not those who show off more. And women are more educated than men!

If it's not a reason to earn more, I don't know what it is.

Meanwhile, men should strive to have better specializations and then be able to compete with real specialized female professionals.

Maybe this way, in the future, men deserve equal wages.

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Source:

1-Estudo derruba o mito de que as mulheres brasileiras ganham 30% menos que os homens

2-Mulheres ganham 19% menos que homens –no topo, a diferença é de mais de 30%

3-Claudia Goldin on the Quest for Career and Family

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Originally published in An Injustice! on Medium.