The Australian Gender Wage Gap Breakdown: Does it Actually Exist?

Does the gender wage gap actually exist? Now, I know what you must be thinking, this guy is obviously a misogynist, well I'm not, I'm actually a feminist belief it or not. The reason why I'm questioning the idea of a gender wage gap, is because, economically it doesn't make sense. So I conducted immense research in order to find the truth, which is exactly what I did.

Think of it like this, if women in Australia only make 84.7cents for every dollar males make, then why don’t business only hire women? The major cost in businesses is wage, and a successful business focus on ways to enhance and increase their profits. If businesses only employ women, then they will save up to 1 quarter of wage expenses. Don’t businesses want to be profitable? If the majority of businesses are unable to identify this profit enhancer, then they are ignorant of the business world and performing a terrible job in managing and reducing cost at businesses.

Is the reason why businesses are unable to identify this wage gap because they have the math wrong? No, it’s actually the feminist, politicians and celebrities that are spreading this wage gap myth who have the math problem, here’s why.

The 83.7cents per dollar statistic is calculated by the medium earnings of all females who are working full time divide by the medium of the males who are working full time. But how do these calculations reveal a gender wage gap or injustice, they don't, this is due to individuals don’t take into account occupation, position, education or hours worked per week. In other words, they do not take into account all the variables that effect the pay, for example if you are a male teacher and you earn more than a female teacher, you must think why is this the case? Well take into consideration the variables that affect this, how many classes do you teach compared to the female teacher, how many subjects are you qualified to teach, how many juvenile individuals you teach, do you work overtime, do you teach more sophisticated classes, did you get a higher education in teacher and teaching methods then the female teacher, have you had more experience in the teaching force then the female teacher, are you older than the female teacher because up until you are 25 years of age, you get paid based on your age, have you taught at more schools then the female teacher, do you manage more departments that the female teacher, have you had less sick days then the female teacher, do you go on less holidays than the female teacher do you spend more money then the female teacher.

There are so many variables that need to be taken into consideration, it is practically impossible to measure a gender wage gap. Even a study by the American Association of University Woman, a feminist organization actually showed that the gender wage gap is actually 6.6 cents when you factor in the different choices man and woman make. The key word is CHOICE, the smaller wage gap identified by the feminist organization doesn't suggest that businesses are paying woman less, let alone with sexism. It has to do with differences and variances with carrier choices men and woman make.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of labor released papers that examined 50 peer-review studies, which led then with the conclusion that the OFT-Cited 0.23 wage gap may be almost entirely result of individual choices being made by both male and female workers. Here are the difference in choices males and females make. Georgetown University developed a list of the five best-paying college majors, and the percentage of males and females participating and majoring in this field. The number one best paying major is Petroleum Engineering, which outlines that the percentage of participation of male individuals is 87% and females 13%. Number two Pharmaceutical Sciences, which outlines that the percentage of participation of male individuals is 48% male and 52% female. Number three, Mathematics and computer sciences, which outlines the percentage of participation by males is 67% male and 33% female. Number four, Aerospace Engineering, which outlines that the percentage of participation by males is 88% males and 12% females. Number five, Chemical Engineering, which outlines the percentage of participation by male individuals is 72% males and 28% females. Notice that woman out-represent man in one of the top 5 highest paying majors.

Let’s consider the five worst-paying college majors. Number one, counseling and physiology, which outlines that the percentage of participation of male individuals is 26% male and 74% female. Number two, Early Childhood education, which clearly outlines that the percentage of participation of male individuals is 3% and the participation of female individuals is 97%. Number three, Theology and Religious Vocations, which clearly outline that the percentage of participation of male individuals is 66% male and 34% female. Number four, Human Services and Community Organization, which clearly outlines that the percentage of participation of male individuals is 19% and 81% females. Number Five, Social Work, which clearly outlines that the percentage of participation of male individuals is 12% and 88% female.

Within this set of data, woman dominate 4 out of 5 categories of the top five worst paying jobs. This clearly insinuates that males and females both make different carrier choices which affects and impacts their weekly income. For example, lets talk about nursing, males, on the whole earn 18% more than female nurses, the reason, male nurses gravitate to the best paying nursing specialties, they will work longer hours, and disproportionately, and are willing to relocate to find jobs in the city which have higher compensation.

Here’s on expert on nursing compensation, professor Linda Aiken of the University of Pennsylvania sums up the data “Career choices and educational differences explain most, if not all, the gender gap in nursing”.
The Department of Labour Paper concluded that once these differences are accounted for, across all professions, the un-explained wage gap is somewhere between 4.8%-7%, all most identical to the 6.6% gender pay gap founded by the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

But still the question remains, why is there a gender pay gap at all, the answer is, no one knows for sure, as the AAUW and the American Department of Labour concede there are so many variables (like I said before) that drive wages that no single study can cover them all.

According to Harvard Economist, Claudia Goldin, states that even if two lawyers have the same education, same specialty and work the same number of hours, firms pay more for an individual who is always on call and ready for the office when someone need them as oppose to wanting a more regular schedule. This isn’t sexism, it’s just common sense.

To conglomerate the evidence provided throughout this article, it is clearly evident that the gender wage gap could possibly exist, even a feminist organization, the AAUW, agrees with me based on the rationale throughout this article. The main reason why the majority of individuals belief in the gender wage gap is mainly because the media has influence you about the topic, making you belief in such imbecilic things like the gender wage. I hope the information I have provided make you reconsider your opinion about the topic.

Thank you guys and girls for reading my article, and please, please give me feedback. Cheers, have a good one.