Doing the rounds of TV interviews promoting his book Man Down, Dan Abrams, legal analyst for ABC News, revisits the well worn battleground of gender roles and who is better than who, revealing some surprising results.
"Women make better cops, spies, drivers, gamblers and even hedge fund managers," says Abrams and quickly adds before he's bombarded with hate mail from disgruntled men, that his new book is based on more than 100 gender-based studies.
According to the studies, women are more careful and deliberate than men and better risk takers.
Women also have better memories and can endure more pain. "Men complain more about pain than women do," says Abrams.
With great fanfare, the book has been marketed to coincide with International Women's Day, which took place on March 8, 2011 and it's been a fun distraction from more important women's issues like that of equal pay to men.
Equal Pay Day
There was not much coverage from the media of the first EU Equal Pay Day that took place on March 5, 2011. According to the European Commission (EC), women are earning an average of 17.5% less than men in the European Union. The gap is falling but progress is slow. Therefore, the EC has initiated Equal Pay Day, according to their website, to draw attention to this shortfall.
"To match the amount a man earns in one year, a woman - earning 17.5% less - would have to work an extra two months until 5 March," according to the official website of the European Union, Europa.eu.
"The pay gap amounts to ongoing discrimination and inequality in the workplace and has far-reaching effects. For example, less pay means a lower pension. As a result, 22 percent of women aged 65 and over are at risk of poverty compared to 16 percent of men."
Equal Pay Initiatives for Companies
The EC has set up initiatives for companies to counter workplace discrimination. They include awards for companies that improve gender equality and the Commission is also encouraging women to enter professions where they are underrepresented.
Business leaders in Europe met with representatives from the EU in early March to coincide with Equal Pay Day, where they were asked to raise the number of women on their boards to 30% by 2015 and 40% by 2050. Currently only 12% of board members in Europe’s largest companies are women, according to the EU.
Pay gap correlates with education and age
The latest Wage Indicator, a non-profit organisation that compares salaries worldwide, quarterly report assessed half a million workers worldwide, and uncovered a correlation between education and age when it comes to equal pay for women.
Wage discrepancies between men and women range from seven percent in fields such as nursing to 30% for top jobs like economists. The gap narrows for those with less education to an average of 18-20%.
For women under the age of 25, the average pay gap is 15%. Then from ages 25 to 35 the gap increases to 19% on average. Women between the ages of 35 and 50 years old can expect the gap to expand to 25% and the gap keeps on widening for older women.
The in-depth analysis is based on a comparison between 11 countries, found in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.
Man Down by Dan Abrams published by Abrams Books
Tracey Furniss - I am a Hong Kong based journalist and have worked in film, television, newspapers, magazines, books and more recently with online content. ...
