Another piece on the perception vs. reality regarding the wage gap, from PolitiFact. I quit taking their reports at face value about three or four years back, but they cite many of the same statistics and sources, and draw the same conclusion.

http://www.politifact.com/...heet-gender-pay-gap/

This appeared on my FB wall yesterday morning, posted by a longtime friend and coworker (supervisor, actually), a female in a same sex relationship. She's a progressive by just about every measure, so it was interesting to see that posted in implicit rebuttal to all the SJW memes that promote the progressive's Wage Gap talking points.

Not surprisingly, not a single person liked or commented on it.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

I have a serious question for you: as a mom, did you feel a biological pull for your children? My wife has talked about it, when a woman in her office brings a baby in the women all flock and swoon and take turns holding the baby, the men largely steer clear. My wife has talked about how her hormones are in overdrive after she's with a friend or co-worker with a baby. After women have babies they often can't tear themselves away from them, I'm seeing it now with my sister who has a 1 year old and has had a rough six months trying to get back into work mode because all she wants is to be with her baby. This isn't to say men won't do all they can for their children, only that there is a very unique and strong attachment that women have; after all, they carried and birthed the child, they produce milk for the child, it makes sense that their biological attachment is much stronger.

Do you think maybe, just maybe, that plays a role in mens' and womens' differing paths at home and the workforce after children are born?

Studies show that unmarried women outearn unmarried men by about 8% when controlling for profession - i.e. when women and men are in their first 5-10 years in their profession women are paid more than men. Other studies show that men outearn women (across all ages and professions) by about 6-8% when controlling for education, profession, hours worked and experience. And further studies have shown that men are more likely to ask for a raise, to relocate for a job, to take on additional hours and responsibilities in their careers. Maybe those factors account for the remaining 6-8% in wages?

I think you're confusing choices with unequal results. And also, just a thought here: I'm sure women complain about household duties, about being supermom while trying to keep their careers etc. Guys complain too, about career burnout and crazy stress, about being stuck in shitty jobs to provide for the family. Men die two years earlier than women, on average, and work something like 90% of the most dangerous jobs. Men are also at risk of losing the house and kids if the marriage doesn't work out, our justice system doesn't give half a shit about dads.

Both 'sides' make sacrifices, only one of them finds the need to constantly complain.

I work in HR, and don't understand the wage gap argument. Our wages/salaries are based on 1) job role 2) years of experience. From there our HR people determine the pay of the new hire, they basically have a software that tells them the wage/salary. We don't negotiate pay unless your an executive, or if so there is a set range. I know I'm just looking at my company, but I have to assume most companies are the same or close to it. Yes we have a gender field in our HR software but it is not linked to anything regarding pay (quite frankly I don't get why its there besides dealing with wage gap/affirmative action government compliance).

What I do notice, is women tend to work less hours, say .8FTE vs 1.0FTE. This is generally because moms don't want daycare completely raising their kids, I get it, my wife wants to do it and I fully support it. I don't work overtime because I want to see my kids. But you know what? Their set wage is the exact same as a 1.0 FTE. They just make less because they work less.

On your argument on free household labor, I don't get it either. Maybe because I'm a millennial and I have not seen how many older folk do it, but we split the work. I cook dinner because I get home earlier, my wife mows the lawn because my allergies hate cut grass, I shovel or use the snowblower because I'm physically stronger. My parents were the same. My father did most of the cooking, my mother did cleaning inside, my father did the work outside. As I understand most married couples are double income families and split the household work. When I see the case you describe, it is very rare and odd.

If at any time I see a stay at home wife, its because that is what the wife wanted.

None of those are required for the mother child bond to occur.


Occasionally, in moments of calm reflection, I'll realize that the entire structure of my life and the lives of my wife and son are dependent on my labor. Sometimes I'm amazed that I can hold it all together. I have great support from my family but there are a lot of things that rest entirely on my shoulders.

I rarely (if ever) complain.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Very funny!

I will say, there are some issues that I agree with around maternity leave and affordable child care, which disproportionately impacts single moms and low income households. It's when shit like the 'wage gap' and 'home/work balance' come up that I get pissed...the wage gap is built on lies and home/work balance is a mutual agreement between spouses. Further, women talk about how strong they are - and they are! If they're so strong, though, why do they also believe they're so weak as to allow their husbands to walk all over them when it comes to a balance of work and chores and kids? No, marriages succeed or fail based on partnerships that work, if women were unhappy with their role in the relationship I'd hope and expect them to speak up and make changes. It's a nonsense excuse imo.

Which makes a good argument for those people to not have kids!!!!!

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Come on. We all know, in that relationship, BLeP is the wife.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Did you notice how he had to quantify that it was a "human wife". I guess his moose wife isn't so awesome.

Moose is the husband.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

There is no place for logic here! Groups will protest and the media will be more than happy to convey faux, data and outrage. Controversy is all about rating baby!