We Are Not All the Same

It looks like they killed the bill that would make it illegal to pay someone less just based on their gender. I have a feeling this will continue to be the case. A lot of people say women don't get paid as much because they don't demand to be paid as much, but then again, when women do demand to be paid as much, they still don't get paid as much because it's just not required. And that sucks. What sucks even more is some of the stuff that comes out of people's months whenever this issue gets brought up.

"Women don't want to be paid as much as men. Women want men to make more money so the men will take them out on dates and buy them gifts."

REALLY? So the women who are already married and doing whatever they can to keep their family from losing their mortgage is just fine with making less money than men because of dates? So the lesbian women are just fine with making less money so that men can take them on dates? So the women who plan to live single and celibate are just totally happy to make less money so that men will take them on dates and buy them things?

There are probably some women who want men to take them on dates and buy them things. The rest of us have no interest in that and should not be punished. How about instead of paying us less, we let these women who actually feel that way just PRETEND the man is making more money and PRETEND he's paying for the date. That way she gets to have her useless romantic fiction and the rest of us can make a car payment.

"Women are less interested in equal pay and more interested in flexible hours."

There ARE some women who like flexible hours. They have children or parents or other unpredictable situations that make flexible hours look great. However, I think if you asked most of these women if they would rather have 33% more pay or more flex time, the majority of them would opt for the pay. When people have dependents, more money can only make the situation easier. Yes, you may miss little Taxwriteoff's recital, but I'm sure little Taxwriteoff will forgive you when you get to keep the electricity for that month.

Beyond that, women who do not have children, sick parents, or other dependents certainly do not value flexible hours over more money. Why would they? Anyone who has managed to avoid the plague of people eating into their time will want to be making as much cash as possible. Flexible hours aren't all that important.

I think one of the main problems here is that when certain politicians think of "women," they really think of "mothers and/or potential mothers." They never consider the growing population of women who have no children now and won't have any in the future. When you talk to people like me, you're not going to get far by telling me about how your political party plans to improve elementary education. I don't have kids, so I really don't care very much. Tell me about stuff that applies to me and if you have nothing that applies directly to me, I am never going to see you as a political ally.