Zimmerman responded with statistics on the disparities favoring men in the
higher paying fields, and the relative earnings of men and women with
college degrees.
Zimmerman is correct, while women dominate in our colleges overall, men
dominate in engineering and science. It follows that the numerical
disparities favoring women in the remaining fields are greater than the
numerial disparity favoring men in those few fields that men dominate.
Regarding the correction of the relative pay of male and female college
graduates, it is insufficient to bring about parity in engineering and
science, since the dominance of women in the lower paying fields would still
mean the average female college graduate would earn less. Pay equity will
not happen until we bring more men into the lower paying fields as well as
bringing more women into engineering and science. Until men are encouraged
to go into education at the rates that women do, the average wage of college
graduates will retain a difference by sex.
Robert Weverka
<weverka@optivision.com>