President Obama signs equal pay law

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOL!

Is Coramoor a man?

From the location and past posts I'd always assumed he was a soldier overseas. (and hey, thanks for that, man)

[UGAalum94]

Dr. Phil, do you complete reject the idea that biology plays a role in gender norms or do you simply expect that we can tinker with enough of the other influences to neutralize it?

I also think you misrepresented my position earlier. I don't think it's a "it just so happens" thing. But I think that some of the gender inequality in pay in based on decisions that women make and that some of those decisions are influenced by the biological differences in men and women not particularly dependent on gender roles as socially constructed.

I also acknowledge that in some cases, women experience gender discrimination in employment.

I though that this and the links at the bottom were pretty interesting in explaining exactly how things are measured and how they've previously been controlled for:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male-fe...ity_in_the_USA

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Dr. Phil, do you complete reject the idea that biology plays a role in gender

No.

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

or do you simply expect that we can tinker with enough of the other influences to neutralize it?

We can stop exaggerating the biological differences between men and women. You mentioned childbirth as though it isn't obvious that this is a biological difference. The gender norms come in how we interpret these biological differences.

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I also think you misrepresented my position earlier. I don't think it's a "it just so happens" thing. But I think that some of the gender inequality in pay in based on decisions that women make and that some of those decisions are influenced by the biological differences in men and women not particularly dependent on gender roles as socially constructed.

I didn't misrepresent your position at all. We simply disagree with whether your position boils down to a "it just so happens" approach. I say that it does because it is as though these biological differences explain more of the gender inequality in this society than they do. Women can have babies. Men can't. Some women choose to have babies. Men still can't. "It just so happens that this is the case therefore it is what it is."

The outcome is what we're looking at here and, again, how we interpret biological differences and what the gender norms are based on. In a more gender egalitarian society, family dynamics do not rest predominantly on women's shoulders. Men aren't overwhelmingly "free" from family responsibilities from the moment of conception. These gender dynamics would extend to all social institutions, including the workforce.