The Economics of Gender
By: Stephanie Silver, Tasha
Saieh, and Camila Jaramillo
Interview with Mr. Stone
What are your thoughts on the discrimination of women in the work force?
•My first response is just to say this is “unacceptable” but there are indications that
we are moving in the right direction. In terms of compensation we are closing the
gap.
Do you think it’s more prevalent today or in the past? Is it getting worse?
•I think that we have made some steps in the right direction but we are no where
near equality. When we look how far we have come, we fail to look at how far we
need to go. We become distracted by our triumph. There is a long way ahead of us.
How big of an impact do you think sex in the media has on the economy?
•The media is based on consumption, even the news unfortunately. Women are
usually more sexualized than men. It’s much easier to have an unattractive male
sitting at the desk reporting the news. It is all about sex appeal. The media pushes
sex as something that can be sold. We are sex obsessed people. People constantly
feel that they need to purchase more to become sexually adequate. The reality is
that I am very disturbed by the emphasis put on sex. It’s a cheap sexuality that is
sold. I think it is superficial. Economically a lot of these corporations, groups, are
praying on personal insecurities. The products that we try to push are all sex
related, even medications, like products for erectile dysfunctions.
Equal Pay Act - 1963
• The EPA was "the first step towards an
adjustment of balance in pay for women”
• Equal pay for equal work
• Determined by job content NOT job title
• Reasons for the EPA
• Improvements:
– 62% in 1970 to 80% in 2004
Have things really changed since
the Equal Pay Act?
The Pope denounced Britain’s pending
Equality Bill, calling it a 'violation of
natural laws'.
Discrimination
• A report commissioned by the International Trade Union Confederation in 2008 states
that gender pay gap is about 15.6%.
•Women make only 77.5 cents for every dollar that men earn.
• Women often work longer than men in order to receive promotions.
•Example: on average women often have to work three years longer in a teaching
position to be promoted to a principal than their male counterparts.
•Women account for 46% of the labor force, but 59% of them make less than $8 an hour.
• Only 53% of employers provide at least some replacement pay during periods of
maternity leave.
•Four in ten businesses world wide have no women in senior management.
• According to UNIFEM women represent 70 percent of the world’s poor.
http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics/
http://collegetimes.us/10-surprising-statistics-on-women-in-the-workplace/
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/71-222-x/2008001/sectionj/j-hourly-horaire-eng.htm
http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-3.pdf
Another Graph to help you visualize…
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/01/business/20090301_WageGap.html?8dpc
The Gender Gap is Actually Getting
Bigger…
IT Gender Pay Gap: 2009 survey
• In 2009 35% of women said that they were on
the bottom of the tech pay ladder as opposed to
the 32% in 2008.
• Only 14 per cent of male IT workers are in the
lowest pay bracket this year, down from 20 per
cent in 2008.
• 17 per cent of male respondents reported
earning £55,001 to £70k, versus just 12.5 per
cent of women
•In the top two earnings brackets there is a
significant hike in the proportion of men versus
women:
•15 per cent of male respondents reported
earning £70,001 to £110k this year,
compared to just five per cent of women
•5.5 per cent of men claimed to pocket
£110,001+, only 2.5 per cent of women did
http://www.silicon.com/management/cio-insights/2009/12/03/it-gender-pay-gap-getting-worse-39686840/
Why are women paid less?
• Lack of training
•House hold obligations
How does this affect the economy?
• Women are not as encouraged to work
•It has been shown that there is an increase in fertility, more children means
more money is needed to raise them.
• The indirect fertility channel accounts for almost half of the total decrease in
output per capita.
• Single parent families, in which the supporting parent is a woman, struggle to keep
up financially.
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/627
Advertising
“Media coverage of sexual issues such as the
advent and subsequent promotion of Viagra,
along with the sensationalism of the Clinton-
Lewinsky affair has resulted in an American
public better able to handle sexual issues than
ever before” –Tom Reichert, Professor of
Advertising at U of Georgia
Sex in Advertising
Pros Cons
Attractiveness of endorsing model Unrelated sexual implicitness
Safety of prostitutes Brand Reputation and Boycotts
Attention grabbing Different interests of men & women
Bring in revenue Teens Lured into
Prostitution
Porn Industry
- “It is estimated that Americans now spend
somewhere around $10 billion a year on
adult entertainment”-Steve Kroft, Reporter
for 60 Minutes
What Is It Worth?
Adult Video $500 million to $1.8
billion
Internet $1 billion
Pay-Per-View $128 million
Magazines $1 billion
Total $2.6 billion to $3.9 billion
Prostitution: The act or
practice of engaging in sexual
acts for money
Our forefathers did not envision a nation
where sex was a profession and taxable
- US News and World Report
Prostitution
•Nevada:
•Legal Prostitution
•Economically driven endeavor
•Prohibited in counties with populations exceeding 400,000
•Advertisement
•Tourism
•59 % oppose, 35% support, and 6% didn’t know or didn’t answer
•Making prostitution legal would make it more manageable
•Legalizing prostitution would prevent underground prostitution that occurs today
•Sources of Revenue
•Total Revenue = $10 million
• The government will earn revenue from brothels and be able to monitor part of the
sex industry
•Los Angeles spend upwards of $100 million per year
"The prostitution industry accounts for 5% of the GDP of the Netherlands, between
1 and 3% of Japanese GDP, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated
that prostitution accounted for between 2 and 14% of the total economic activity in
Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines”
•Legalized prostitution bigger economy better working conditions reduced
crime rate
http://sisyphe.org/spi
p.php?article1596
Do you think that prostitution should be
legalized, because of its positive effects on
the economy?
“I don’t think we should do it for the economy. I don’t really know enough if by
legalizing prostitution it would alleviate its exploitation. The idea of legalizing it
though scares me because I think more people out of desperate will be pulled into
this trade. Part of me says that if there is a women and she decides that she wants
to do this to pay her way through college is that okay? Is it my decision to make?
People aren’t always in the right place to make the right decisions. I don’t think we
should make prostitution something that is seen as ok just for economical benefits.”
–Mr. Stone
Discussion Question:
Should prostitution be legalized in
order to boost Florida’s economy?