JONATHAN CHAIT MAY 26, 2010
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Economist Casey Mulligan says that one reason for the discrepancy between male and female wages is that men are more willing to work the night shift:
The vast majority of workers perceive work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to be more desirable than work during the off-hours, and many of the off-hours workers are compensated with higher pay for the less desirable schedule. A variety of factors — including, some economists and many women’s rights advocates say, gender discrimination — may cause women to be paid less than men, but part of the reason may be the hours they choose to work.
The night shift story is part of the same basic pattern: women are less willing or able than men to put in hours at work that are incompatible with family life. Working 60 hours a week to get ahead is very difficult for mothers, and so is working the night shift. The nub of the issue is that we live in a society where men often feel comfortable, or at least justified, working those sorts of hours even if they're parents, while women don't.
Describing this as the "hours they choose to work" is somewhat misleading. Social pressures can shape people's choices. A mother might prefer to work long hours and have the husband pick up the slack at home, but the husband might not be willing. Or perhaps the husband is willing but neither of them wants to be have their friends and family constantly wondering about the non-traditional relationship. Or maybe they are willing, but their children expect to see the mother more because their friends see their mothers more, and the mother can't take the guilt of explaining to her kids why she has to see them less than other mommies do.
5 comments
Jonathan, your last paragraph puts more speculation into a closing argument than even a good defense attorney might blush at. Of course all these things are possible. Of course social pressure shapes our responses. But let's not make hypothesis unnecessarily here - anyone who has managed work teams knows that the willingness to take it on the chin it terms of hours and travel and other home-life disruptions pretty universally follows a pattern: childless men most willing, childless women next, fathers next, and mothers bringing up the van and far less willing to sacrifice family time for salary and work advancement. Saying there are all these possibly other explanations flies in the face at the very least of my own observations - I've watched gung-ho, careerist women turn overnight - quite often against their own expectations - into "I just want to keep my job, and keep it within normal working hours" when their children arrive. Very many ask for reduced hours and reduced stress positions. The maternal bond is universally powerful in human experience. Let's not pretend otherwise.
- IowaBeauty
May 26, 2010 at 10:11am
Huge omission in your argument: single mothers.
- katsnovak
May 26, 2010 at 10:16am
"Or perhaps the husband is willing but neither of them wants to be have their friends and family constantly wondering about the non-traditional relationship." Balls - pair - grow some. If my wife were a nurse and could make a nice jump in pay for working graveyard, damn right I would not care what anyone said, unless they were willing to make up the difference in pay out of their own pocket I would not hesitate to tell them to go screw themselves (sometimes being naturally obnoxious has its benefits)
- blackton
May 26, 2010 at 11:00am
And that's what we love about you, Blackton! Damn right, if the lady can earn more than me.....go for it and screw whatever the neighbors think.
- desertdog
May 26, 2010 at 11:16am
I was under the assumption that the when the stats of male vs. female pay is being examined, apples and apples were being compared (ie, amount paid for same work). Working 3rd shift is not the same work. In most cases, in addition to shift differentials, there may be actual salary differences. In my hospital, we have 4 midnight pharmacists; 2 male, 2 female. And one is a new Mom and the other is a new mom-to-be. I think it's personal preferance these days, not "keeping up with the Jones'" or "what will the neighbors thinkg?" But more important, I DON'T think THAT's what explains pay differences between the sexes. Someone was reaching...
- ericad
May 27, 2010 at 5:02pm