The Logic Off Topic list

>>I made that comment just as an observation about society. I think that
>>there was something about the 60's and 70's with all the talk of
>>equality, which lead women to be more equal in all ways. Now, equality
>>means 'equal pay' but not equal responsibility or other forms of
>>equality.
>
>Every research recently conducted in this field shows that women 
>still get substantially less paid than men when performing the same 
>kind of jobs or tasks.
>
>So in fact you got it backwards: even when having the same 
>responsibilty, they still don't get the same rewards.

I hear that regularly too, but I think this is a classic 
misinterpretation of statistics, and I read an article to that affect 
about 6 years ago. I can tell you in my professional experience - both as 
a computer programmer and college professor - that there is absolutley no 
difference in pay at all  - for the same level of education and same 
years of experience. 

And in any area where there is a clear difference, there would be clear 
grounds for a lawsuit and humiliation for the company conducting such 
practices. 

So why the statistics? I suspect, and from what I have seen of the people 
I work with, women are more likely to have gone to lower ranked colleges, 
less likely to have PhDs, less likely to go into the more competitive job 
areas, and more likely to take time off for raising children. A 
significant number of women get married without going to college, and 
either after marriage or after kids are in school, or after kids are 
grown,... go back to school and enter the job market at a later age.

So I don't believe women are discriminated against in any way that I know 
of, or have seen! Perhaps such discrimination existed decades ago, but 
not in a systematic way now. On the other hand, men (in the US) 
contribute a great deal more around the house, to the kids, to the 
cooking, to the shopping, etc. And in the dating arena, women still want 
the guy to pay (depending on the woman) EVEN WITH EQUAL PAY.

I remember years ago, the talk of strip shows as demeaning to women - 
objectifying them as sexual objects. I recall when I was in NY (upstate) 
in the early 80's and when a bar turned to a strip bar, men and women 
were both out there walking picket lines in protest. However, instead of 
society rising to a higher standard of treating women as humans, I see 
the reverse. Men are now treated as sex objects too, the male stripping, 
etc. I see just as many advertisements featuring women in bikinis - even 
more so in fact. In fact, there is a law that you can't create a rap 
video without some fine ass, long legs, and bouncing betties.

Its the same thing with the cold war, every time we think human beings 
will rise to the occasion, they find new lows unimaginable before.