The Unfinished Business of the 21st Century

She brought up a point that I've often felt doesn't get nearly the attention it needs, though it is starting to get more attention. And, that is the fact that women are often paid less because of previous salary. One of several reasons women tend to have smaller previous salaries is because they tend to job-hop slightly more often than men. Men tend to be stubborn/stupid enough to put up with more bullshit at work, rather than leaving for better opportunities.

This puts many women at a slight disadvantage because there is a strong correlation with pay and tenure. If women don't work at a position as long as men, they're not leaving those jobs with as high of a salary. So, when the arguably bullshit question of prior salary comes up, women report lower salaries. This helps to perpetuate lower starting salaries for women because businesses can justify giving a lower offer to women by claiming that they're simply going by the candidate's prior salary.

This is arguably more a case of adverse impact than blatant disparate treatment (because companies will do anything they can to save money), but the negative result is the same.

Even though the 9th Circuit just ruled that it is legal for companies to do this as long as the "only" reason they offer the lower salary is due to prior salary (they're technically correct in that ruling, but it ignores reality), several states are starting to pass laws outlawing companies from asking about prior salary.

I hope the trend of outlawing the question continues. Whether male or female, asking about prior salary is all kinds of unfair bullshit, but it is especially adverse for female candidates because (due to several factors) it creates a hole that is very hard for them to dig out of.

I'm glad Clinton mentioned this and I hope more people pick up on the issue and that more states make the practice illegal.

cornflake said:

In the ellipsis, she was talking about both the U.S. and then her travels around the world, but she's clearly speaking about the world as a whole. She also discussed inequity in pay in the tech industry, in the way pay is offered in job interviews, etc.

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I've been over this with a male friend of mine who works in tech. He thinks I would do well in his industry, and he seems to be convinced that being a woman would be an advantage for me. I don't believe it's an advantage in many industries, if any at all, and especially not that one.

Look, Clinton wasn't perfect, but can you imagine how much better it would be to have a President who spoke like her? Instead of the current guy who seems to be a strange human personification of both a brain fart and an actual fart.

But her emails...

Celia Cyanide said:

But her emails...

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Oh yeah, I forgot about those. In which case, lock her up, obviously. I don't quite know why, but ...