This discussion came up with the family the other night.  Every once in a while the old 59 cents to the dollar 1960's Feminist mantra comes up again.  Do Men really make more than women?  Do we need a stronger "Equality Pay Act?"  We are capitalist, so let's first start by asking yourself this simple question: If women do the equal work of Men and they get paid less, why don't employers hire all women?  Simple business economics right?

Warren Farrell tried to tackle this issue in his book "Why Men Earn More."  Through his studies he found the women entrepreneurs earn 50% less than their Male counterparts.  He also concludes that the wage differences are due to life choices.  "Men and women make 25 work-life choices that actually created the wage gap."  Money motivator for Men 76%, women  25%.

So we already see that women make less as entrepreneurs and they don't have money as a motivator.  Those are two good reasons to make less in a job.  Not so fast.  Warren states that "when a Male and a female civil engineer both stay with their respective companies for ten years, travel and relocate equally and take the same career risks, the woman ends up making more."  Further more, "among workers who have never been married and never had children, women earn 117% of what Men do.  (This factors in education, hours worked and age.)"

Women are also more unlikely to take a high risk job.  Construction work can be good, decent paying work, but women won't  work these jobs.  Men represent 92% of all occupational deaths.  (Not Fair!  I want equality there!)  Therefore, we can't  take those kinds of opportunities into account.  Here are 39 jobs that woman make more than Men.  So we start to see that pay must be taken on a case by case basis, but many times Men come out on the short side of the stick of "Equal work for Equal  pay."

So how far exactly does this equality thing have to go?  Men currently make up only 42 percent of the nation's college  students.  Men make less in many job fields with all things being equal.  If we continue it won't be long before Men are calling for equality.  Warren Farrell actually offers the argument to use affirmative action to fix areas where woman  currently are behind, this feminist disagrees.  Another feminist, Carey Roberts states, "According to the Bureau of Labor  Statistics, full-time Men clock an average of 45 hours a week, while women put in 42 hours. Men are more than twice as likely as women to work at least 50 hours a week - that's why most CEOs are male. Only in a socialist economy do employees get paid  the same, regardless of the number of hours worked."

If we remove all these factors, and just accept the postulate that "Men make more than women," may be it's because Men are smarter.  A recent study shows that Men are actually more intelligent than women.  So why don't more employers hire the equal woman for lesser pay?  Because with a Man they get a smarter employee, who will make them more money in returns, work longer  hours, and really for less pay (not made up less pay).  Simple business economics. 

In closing Carey Roberts writes, "I'm going to predict that when word of these disparities leaks out, American companies will be faced with a tsunami of complaints, grievances, and lawsuits from men alleging wage discrimination.  Because men deserve equal pay for equal work."