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Paying Housewives
I'll read this in a little bit. I'm swamped right now. Obviously, I don't think the "labor department" has an agenda, but I will say this. If I read what you have posted a link to, and they didn't do the stats properly, you'll lose ALL CREDIBILITY. You understood my point about the medical profession. Well, there better not be stuff like that, we're they are lumping all teachers into one category, when there may be more male college professors, then there are female pre-school teachers, and we all know which of those two should make more, right?— May 11, 2009 1:06 p.m.
Paying Housewives
Here's the problem, yet again. Let's say nurses are underpaid. I have NO PROBLEM conceeding that point. I have no problem saying teachers are underpaid (and I'm guessing a majority of teachers are female). But so what? What does that mean? Should we pay nurses $100,000 a year? What about teachers? It's the same argument I get in with people that think athletes make way to much money. Well, if a plumber, or nurse, teacher, can hit a 90 mile an hour fastball, they could play for the Dodgers. If we lived in a society where we share the wealth (I'll avoid saying that dreaded "s" word that Republicans like to throw out when talking about Obama)...that just wouldn't work. You can't pay doctors the same that you pay nurses, or teachers the same that you pay a lawyer. If you don't like your pay, you can go to school, or do whatever it takes to go into the profession that pays more.— May 11, 2009 10:07 a.m.
Paying Housewives
I loved the last line. I actually did LOL, and think I woke up my girlfriend! Just keep in mind, refried, before you do all this hard research...think about what it is you're posting. Is it some womens group, that is just spouting facts? Because, you've yet to answer, why it makes sense that they are saying "medical professions" and lumping (mostly) male doctors, with (mostly) female nurses, and then acting so dumbfounded that women make significantly less!— May 11, 2009 12:55 a.m.
San Diego Mutt Nuts
This was an interesting read. My only thing is...I thought Ellen handled that situation poorly. Sure, maybe the shelter did, too. But for her to use her show as a vehicle, which then got death threats to that shelter, just wasn't cool. Especially when...they have those contracts for reasons. And, they can't just give a pass to "celebrities" that don't want to follow rules.— May 11, 2009 12:54 a.m.
A Neighborhood Affair to Remember
Hey...how did I get dragged into this? I read the piece above, and enjoyed it. I do agree about the other comments regarding what wins the contest. Sometimes it baffles me. My mom called me one day screaming, because some guy wrote a story and she just kept saying "How the hell does this have anything to do with the city in which he lives?" I just laughed. I mean, hey...she sometimes calls me and says "Your last party you wrote about in Crasher kinda bored me." Happy Mothers Day, mommy dearest! I did find something odd about refriedgringo being so harsh. He seems to think you attract more honey and all that jazz. Yet, I've seen him post on another writers site, and doesn't give that writer the same criticism he's giving Mindy, when that writer does very similar stories. I'm not sure why that is.— May 11, 2009 12:48 a.m.
Museum Thefts and Cops Pay
It's funny you say that, SD. My friend is a hardcore liberal lawyer. She also (for some crazy reason) does volunteer work for the ACLU. As you can imagine, we argue all the time. She's convinced I'm not even a true Democrat. I tell her I'm just one of the few Democrats that uses my brain. Anyway...she's fascinated with titles and headlines. She's always cutting out LA Times headlines, and why she thinks they're funny. With blog titles, I spend 20 seconds trying to come up with one. I like song titles, that could possibly tie in. And if nothing jumps out at me, I just go with the subjects, hoping that someone will say "Hey...I heard that story, let's see what this dope has to say on the matter."— May 11, 2009 12:42 a.m.
Paying Housewives
The last segment of the survey. And SD, I'm curious as to WHY you think Marilyn (in Guinness with highest IQ on the planet), would feel this way. Is she just naive? Is she a woman hater? What? What reason does she have to feel this way? I think she just uses logic perfectly, and knows this whole debate is a crock of s***. Survey continued: Q - If necessary, which could the workforce more readily do without? Of the men, 3% chose the men, 77% chose the women, and 20% said it made no difference. Of the women, 9% chose the men, 37% chose the women, and 54% said it made no difference. Q - Should we teach our daughters that they have a choice between having a career and staying at home? Of the men, 83% said "yes" and 17% said "no." Of the women, 77% said "yes" and 23% said "no." Q - Should we teach our sons that they have a choice between having a career and staying at home? Of the men, 28% said "yes" and 72% said "no." Of the women, 40% said "yes" and 60% said "no." Q - Say that you’re an employer hiring a new college graduate for a career position. Over the first few years, you will spend $250,000 on this person as he or she gains experience. Which -- a man or a woman -- do you think is more likely to quit for personal reasons? (Say, to become a full-time parent, follow a spouse to a new location or stop work after marriage.) Of the men, 11% chose a man, 83% chose a woman, and 6% said it made no difference. Of the women, 7% chose a man, 82% chose a woman, and 11% said it made no difference— May 11, 2009 12:39 a.m.
Paying Housewives
(to me, the following survey she did doesn't show me much. I was more interested when she asked to hear from bosses and workers, to tell them stories that supported either side. I never saw that, but would like to). The survey: Survey Results: Here's how 7,758 readers felt about men and women in the workplace: Q - Whom would you rather hire as a full-time babysitter while you work? Of the men, 4% chose a man, 91% chose a woman, and 5% said it made no difference. Of the women, 2% chose a man, 90% chose a woman, and 8% said it made no difference. Q - Whose voice do you trust more when you call computer tech support? Of the men, 57% chose a man, 4% chose a woman, and 39% said it made no difference. Of the women, 44% chose a man, 7% chose a woman, and 49% said it made no difference. Q - Whose voice do you prefer to hear when you call a complaint department? Of the men, 18% chose a man, 43% chose a woman, and 39% said it made no difference. Of the women, 14% chose a man, 27% chose a woman, and 59% said it made no difference. Q - Whom would you prefer to pilot your airplane when you travel? Of the men, 69% chose a man, 2% chose a woman, and 29% said it made no difference. Of the women, 51% chose a man, 3% chose a woman, and 46% said it made no difference. Q - When buying a home, with which owner would you prefer to negotiate on the price? Of the men, 40% chose a man, 23% chose a woman, and 37% said it made no difference. Of the women, 28% chose a man, 22% chose a woman, and 50% said it made no difference. Q - Whom would you prefer to perform your heart surgery? Of the men, 59% chose a man, 2% chose a woman, and 39% said it made no difference. Of the women, 38% chose a man, 6% chose a woman, and 56% said it made no difference. Q - If you could have an agent negotiate for your pay, whom would you prefer? Of the men, 64% chose a man, 9% chose a woman, and 27% said it made no difference. Of the women, 51% chose a man, 14% chose a woman, and 35% said it made no difference.— May 11, 2009 12:36 a.m.
Paying Housewives
(continued) To see if women are considered equally capable and valuable in other ways (that is, excluding management potential) by the public itself -- not by employers -- readers were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The results (shown below) were amazing. There wasn’t a single job for which the vast majority (say, 90%) of the readers answered that "it made no difference." And the only job for which even a simple majority (over 50%) of the readers actually preferred a woman was a babysitter, and that turned out to be the vast majority (about 90%). The runner-up (and still under 50%) was soothing angry customers -- handling complaints! So that’s how we see it. Are we right or are we wrong? Are men and women equal or unequal? If any unfair gap exists, litigation can help with situational inequities, but lawsuits make the stereotype worse, because they imply that women, as a group, need special help and are incapable of competing with men on their own. (For example, forced hiring and promoting has cast a cloud of doubt over all women.) On the other hand, if employers are not seriously biased -- and the pay differences are for good reasons -- I believe that forcing equality in pay is unfair to men. In my judgment, women are capable of far more than they currently demonstrate, but to realize their full professional potential -- whatever that may be -- they would need to give up the home values they cherish, and I doubt that will happen. As I once wrote, "Money, power and fame are not most mothers’ goals." Nor should they be. ________________________________________— May 11, 2009 12:34 a.m.
Paying Housewives
(before continued)...SD, why does everyone think there needs to be "social change"? To what? Having nurses make as much as doctors? Or to having a female teacher make as much as Kobe Bryant? The world doesn't work that way. Now, back to Marilyn (a woman, by the way): The National Committee on Pay Equity wrote to complain about that assessment. It blamed sex discrimination instead: "Women, on average, earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. Some of the gap is attributable to experience, education and time taken out of the workforce to raise children. But there is plenty of evidence that shows wage discrimination exists. We routinely hear from women who discover that they are paid less than equally qualified men." This is a common misunderstanding, based on an inflammatory misinterpretation of Census Bureau survey statistics: The "77 cents on the dollar" figure is simply the weekly median (meaning middle: an equal number of women above and below) earnings figure ($473) of all working women divided by the weekly median earnings figure ($618) of all working men. These figures include everyone from dishwashers to physicists and have nothing whatsoever to do with equal pay for equal work. Yet the misleading phrase "77 cents on the dollar" has been the impetus for lawsuits and legislation, not to mention the source of unnecessary fury on the part of both sexes. In short, much of the "wage gap" is due to experience, education and delayed or broken careers, plus the fact that women are concentrated in lower-paying occupations. It is possible that very little equal-pay-for-equal-work gap exists at all. Note: Equal qualifications don’t produce equal performance in the workplace. Just because employees complain that they’re not being paid as much as others doesn’t mean their complaints are justified: Both male and female employees routinely fail to recognize their own personal shortcomings, and both complain about not being paid as much as fellow workers who they believe are equal or inferior to themselves. To be convinced of any real equal-pay-for-equal-work gap, first we must see unbiased studies that show men and women working in the same jobs and producing the same results but with unequal pay. And even that isn’t enough. Then we must consider relevant additional factors, and there are many. For example, employees with management potential may be paid more. If women are perceived to have less ability to handle positions of more responsibility, they could lose some ground here.— May 11, 2009 12:33 a.m.