Sunday, February 2, 2014

Suggested Research Project: Get Some Data on Lesbians

I'm seeing a lot more commentary lately from the left on the discrepancies in pay between men and women. It's an outrage in their view. Of course, free market economists will tell you that it is unlikely to be unjustified discrimination. If there was a pay gap between men and women for no good reason, then it would make sense for businessmen to start bidding up the prices of women's wages to pull them away from their current low paying jobs. The formula would go like this: Pay the women more than they are getting now, but less than what men are getting and pocket the profit differential. Eventually the entire difference in wages would disappear. That is, unless there are other factors that make women's productivity, in general, lower than that of men. One can think of many such factors which may impact a women's productivity negatively. Women carry the unborn, not men, which will force them to take time off from their work. Women, much more often then men, stay at home with young children. Thus, aside from actually leaving the workforce for periods of time, women also probably have somewhat less focus on their career. This isn't bad or good, it just is.

That said, there is one group of women, who, in general, don't have this impediment, lesbians. I would guess that lesbians pay is equal to that of men. In fact, it is pretty obvious that lesbians are doing very well, compared to heterosexual women. Think: Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Rachel Maddow, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Roberts and Janet Napolitano.

I was once invited to an after-party following a world championship skating event. I was amazed at the number of lesbians associated with big time skating. But, when you think about it, the focus and discipline necessary to compete at the top of the championship skating world during prime child bearing years, means it makes sense that lesbians would be over represented. It's the same in female professional tennis. Think: Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Renae Stubbs, Virginia Wade. This doesn't mean heterosexual women can't compete at top levels, but lesbians have an edge---just like men do in the general workforce.

But critics of my theory shouldn't argue that lesbians are more attracted to physical sports and that is the cause of the differential, since this only shows that it is not a differential based on gender, but more based on desire to succeed in a given sector that causes pay differential. But further, it is not only physical work where lesbians tend to outperform heterosexual women. As I pointed out above, the entertainment industry is filled with successful lesbians. I, also, know a couple of Wall Street executives who go out of their way to hire lesbians in sales positions. They believe they are much more focused.

I once raised money for a firm that was founded and run by a lesbian. Her drive, focus and methodical approach to business amazed me on an almost daily basis. I can't imagine this woman having that type of focus is she had to take care of kids also.

Again, the logic is there that explains why women in general earn less than men, nothing more needs to be said beyond the logic, but it might be fun if some scholar looked at lesbian earnings compared to earnings of heterosexual women.

9 comments:

  1. Some years ago, I applied for a position as an accountant with a not-for-profit organization. The interviewer explained that though I was the most qualified applicant, the organization was holding the position for a woman or a man of color. I replied, "Take 10% off for my race and 10% off for my gender, and I'll take the job for 80% of what you're offering." I'd hoped I could compensate for being a less desirable hire, on account of my race and gender, by lowering my price.

    Alas, to no avail. These days I'd have to offer another 10% on account of my non-gay sexual orientation and possibly 20% due to my age. Which means I'm worth only half as much as other applicants even if I might be more qualified.

    So I'm going to start a company that keeps track of hiring, promotion and pay by race, gender and sexual orientation; and if I find that straight white men are statistically underrepresented in hiring, promotion and pay, why, I'll... I dunno, I guess I'll whine...

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    1. Isn't it illegal to discriminate against anyone based on gender or color when hiring?

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  2. Like I've said before, the only thing the Idiot Left can trot out is "racism" and "sexism". In other words, their perverted ideology is completely bankrupt. They have no arguments whatsoever, just noise.

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  3. Just look at fedex. My manager is a lesbian, and her manager is a lesbian. There's a lot of them working there. They are, in general, much better at their jobs than the heterosexual women. They complain less. They're tough. There's a position called "swing driver", where you basically cover routes that have sick calls or the normal courier is on vacation. It's the most stressful job we have because you need to know EVERY route, and you work like 13 hours a day. There are no heterosexual women in that position, only men and lesbians.

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  4. Yeah, and swimsuit models get paid so much less than their male counterparts. Oh yeah, and cover girl models. They get paid so much less than their male counterparts. What about women tennis players and golfers? They get paid less. If they want to get paid the same, all they have to do is go on the men's tour and win a few tournaments. their pay will be equal to men's straight away.

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  5. A study needs to be done which compares women and men in the same jobs at various ages. You could ask questions about the experience in the field, the number of consecutive years in the job, hours spent concentrating on the job outside of work, etc.

    It's surprising that such a study has not been done.

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    1. It most assuredly has. The results have been suppressed because they did not support the hypothesis.
      Politically correct is not synonymous with factually correct. Otherwise there be no need for a redundant expression.

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  6. The sexual preference isn't the issue, but rather a woman's choice to forgo having children. Many lesbians choose to have children. A scholar needs to isolate this choice.

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    Replies
    1. Hasn't Walter Block done this? Or at least referenced the data?

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