Erica’s Blog

Business-Women vs Men in the Workplace March 1, 2006

From the beginning, men have dominated the workforce. Up until this century, it was completely unlikely, and even completely out of the question for a woman to work outside the home. Society’s views were limited to men making the money and women taking care of the home. However, as society progresses, more and more women enter the workplace, and even begin to dominate certain fields. The one thing still separating working men and working woman is salary.

            According to Warren Farrell, the author of “Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap- and What Women Can Do About It, the reasoning for increased wages among men is due to the more hours put in by men than women. “People who do best in a field (financially) just plain put in more hours”, states Farrell.

            However, hours alone are not the only cause of the difference in salary among men and women. Farrell discovered 25 work life decisions that men and women make in relation to their careers that have a direct result of their potential earnings. Farrell discovered that reasons behind men’s higher wages can include: relocation and travel for work, taking on more hazardous assignments, working in the hard sciences, taking greater financial risk jobs, and working in unpleasant environments.

            Women on the other hand, are more likely to seek “careers that are more fulfilling, flexible and safe,” states Farrell, the tradeoff being “the pay can be lower because more people compete to be fulfilled, causing the supply to exceed the demand.”

            Farrell found 39 occupations where women make at least 5 percent more than men, to the most 43 percent more than men. They range from the highest being a sales engineer to the lowest being advertising and promotions managers, with telephone operators, radiation therapists, legislators, and many more in between.

            Farrell states that the reason why these fields pay more to women is unknown, but in his opinion it can range from scarcity of women in certain fields to equal opportunity standards, to combining technique expertise with people skills, to the increased number of career programs designed to advance women. Whatever the cause may be, there are various fields that favor women over men.

            Whether a woman makes more than a man or less, Farrell states that women always seem to lead a more balanced lifestyle than men.

            To me, just seeing the list of 39 careers that women dominate in pay, are just 39 steps in the right direction for women. As society has progressed, women have came from the bottom, to the top in certain professions, it is just a matter of time till our society will progress to the best it can be, making men and women equal in the workforce; no matter what career it might be.