Reading roundup

Anita Roddick in memoriam

• R.I.P., Anita Roddick from kateharding.net by kateharding
• R.I.P. from The F-Word Blog by zohra moosa
• Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, has died from Feministing by Jessica

Gender Expectations

• This ev-psych bullshit must stop from Reclusive Leftist by The Ghost of Violet
• Top 5 Myths About Girls, Math and Science | LiveScience (Hat tip to Amy G. Dala)
• Extreme misogyny at the American Psychological Association convention from Reclusive Leftist by The Ghost of Violet
• Legislation only way for women to win the boardroom? from The F-Word Blog by Jess McCabe

Sexual Violence

• The end game of control from Pandagon by Amanda Marcotte
• Police actually take rape accusation seriously. from The F-Word Blog by Laura Woodhouse
• And who thinks we don’t live in a rape culture? from Feministing by Jessica

Prostitution

• Is there a prostitution solution? from Feministe by Jill
• Government May Move to Criminalise the Purchase of Sex from The F-Word Blog by Louise Livesey
• So that’s why all the morons think prostitution is an empowerfuling career choice from Reclusive Leftist by The Ghost of Violet
• Updated to Add: A message to us from Melissa Farley from Bound, Not Gagged (sex worker activist blog)

FAQ: What is the "Gender Gap"?

Updated 10 November 2007

The term “gender gap” generally refers to the observed inequity in earnings, whereby men earn significantly more than women both on average and when performing the same job, although there are also discussions of gender gaps in representation in certain areas of society such as education and politics. This gap varies between countries, so obviously social factors are crucial.

There are a ton of sexist rationalisations for why it is right and proper that the gender earnings gap should continue to exist. The most common one is that men are more willing to work in risky professions which pay their workers a risk premium. A problem is, that argument assumes a perfect market in which a risk premium actually is paid to workers in more danger of bodily harm, but there is absolutely no evidence that there generally exists a large enough risk premium paid to certain workers to account for any significant fraction of the gender earnings gap. The empirical evidence simply doesn’t support it.

Image Source: US Dept of Labor,
Knowledge gets the biggest pay premium

The Dept of Labor’s article from which the above image is sourced states:

In sum, the duties most highly valued by the marketplace are generally cognitive or supervisory in nature. Job attributes relating to interpersonal relationships do not seem to affect wages, nor do the attributes of physically demanding or dangerous jobs.

Second problem is, most examples of high risk professions are those “glamour” risk professions which pay well over a living wage. The arguments brought up usually fail to include the workers on low wages who are truly most at risk of fatal injury, as seen below: