Why Are Men Paid More? Hint – It’s Not A Gender Pay Gap

This topic is quite a controversial one and has been under the spotlight for some time. The main defenses of the argument that there is actually a gender wage gap has been refuted so many times as to make it almost moot.

Undeterred, certain groups with extremely biased agendas try to manipulate the facts into a more palatable form of attack rather than admit defeat, even in the face of irrefutable truths and facts which debunk their argument.

Women generally try to conflate a general earnings rate with a like for like job pay disparity which simply does not exist. The company that runs the website called “Payscale” (link here) clearly shows the uncontrolled wage gap earnings are $0.81 compared to men. This does not take into account the hours worked, the levels of education, and the actual jobs worked.

This is where the argument falls flat that there is a huge disparity. When you look at the data for a controlled wage gap group, which takes into account job type and level of education then the wage gap is $0.98 for every dollar earned by a man. This small disparity could usually be because men are slightly more inclined to pursue wage increases than women.

So why are women making such a fuss of the actual difference is just 2% ? For many women who have bought into the “men are bad” ideology then they refuse to accept the fact doctors should earn more than waiters, especially when it comes to their own earnings potential.

Many are upset that they took courses like gender studies or dance theory at college and couldn’t land the same high paying jobs as the guys who took mechanical engineering or computer science.

Let’s have a look at the main contributing factors which show exactly why men earn more (For any women who are reading this you can earn exactly the same as a man by making exactly the same choices.)

Men work longer hours while women refuse to

This is a big factor which often tries to get hidden with convoluted tales of childcare, tiredness, home care chores etc. but in fact men often work longer hours than their female counterparts, even if they both have the same job role, education and the same marital status.

Studies in the medical industry show that women are 60% more likely to feel burnout than men. Women feel burnt out emotionally a opposed to men who felt disconnected.

The same studies showed that female physicians often left the medical industry or reduced their hours more citing family as the reason. The same reductions of hours or resignations were not seen by men who, while having access to the same choices, were not taken by them.

Men have been and are still are considered to be the main breadwinners in most families so it stands to reason that they work longer hours on average as a result.

Men work in dangerous jobs / crappy jobs

This is one the gets glossed over very quickly by women as it clearly refutes their claim to equal pay for equal work. If you look at some roles like oil rig workers, trawler fisherman, road construction, firefighters, soldiers, sewer cleaners, road sweepers to name but a few, you will see they are predominantly men, some of these industries are almost 100% men.

Why is that? Many of these jobs are highly paid and are not gender restricted so why is it that only men do these jobs? In most cases, it’s because they are dirty and dangerous.

When it comes to getting paid women are at the front of the line with their hands out. When it comes to working out at sea on an oil rig where you are working in sub-zero temperatures with a strong chance of losing fingers so everyone can have gas in their cars, they put their hands up and say “f*ck that! Let the men suffer and get hurt, not me!”

As well as suffering longer hours, harder, more demanding jobs, men also die more often at work as a result of taking these riskier job roles. Women never put their hands up to take on more workplace injuries and fatalities either. So why should women get paid more for men’s risk?

Men work in STEM field jobs

For those who may be unsure STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Men choose these industries far more than women because we have a real interest in these disciplines.

Men love gadgets, making things, finding out things, solving problems. You can do all this and more in STEM careers. Many people believe that STEM jobs pay more, which in many cases, they do but these roles are still filled predominantly by men.

So why does STEM pay more? In many areas of STEM there is a significant demand for some roles, especially roles that not everyone can learn and you need a real aptitude for. Roles like programming, mechanical engineering, product design and innovation. Some things cannot be taught and many companies rely on individuals with an inherent genius and pay them well as a result.

Many companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to encourage women into STEM fields to balance diversity quotas but they are finding women are simply not interested in these kinds of roles.

Women choose lesser paid jobs and careers

Women often choose roles that directly help others more than men do (59% women compared to 31% men). This can be attributed to how men and women think differently about what constitutes help.

If you ask a woman what job would help someone, they are likely to say, carer, teacher, nurse, whereas a man would say mechanic, policeman or network engineer (so you can get Netflix and Facebook)

With that said many of the roles that involve helping others directly can be taught, so as a result there is more competition for those roles which can push pay rates lower.

Women think of careers emotionally rather than from a brute logic perspective and as such choose roles that can offer flexibility, job perks, time off, etc. Men think about money mainly and what they need to do to get it and more of it.

Women take the lions share of childcare

Children are are a big bone of contention when it comes to the wage gap discussions as on one hand women say they are forced to take part time work and lesser paid jobs but often it’s because their spouse has opted for a job that pays more so when choosing who should work less more often then not it’s the one who earns less.

Women often complain about this but if they were offered the chance to work while the husband stayed home and the whole family had a lower income and standard of living as a result, most women would refuse.

In the case of single parent families a case can be made the single mother cannot work as much and is forced to look after the child(ren) so needs to work part time, or flexible hours.

Over 70% of divorces are made by women and custody is granted to over 80% of those, with many getting granted sole custody. Many women fight to keep sole custody of their children so why then do they complain when they cannot work full time?

If women became more flexible with the children rather than seeing them as a possession to be coveted (usually to get child support) then both parents could work out a plan for women to work more, earn more and for dads to get access to their kids.

In conclusion:

The wage gap is a complete myth perpetuated by the ideologically driven. They do not want equality because we have it already, especially with the employment industry where it is illegal for a man and a woman to be paid differently for the same job role.

Women will balk at the idea of going to work somewhere dangerous and/or dirty like at the top of a high rise construction or down a sewer but expect the same benefits.

They want the same pay as the guy who works 15 hours a day so he can put his kids through college even though they only work 7. They want the same pay as the brain surgeon even though they work on the hospital reception desk.

And the big kicker for divorced dads. They want to be paid to stay at home and look after the kids instead of giving the dads time with them so they can get off their backsides and go out to work instead.

Women choose to work fewer hours, do easier, cleaner, safer jobs and that’s ok. What’s not ok is to expect men to subsidize their life choices just because they are more willing to do what it takes to get ahead.