Gender Pay Differences

The Times’ Dec. 29 article on gender-related pay disparities helps all of us understand the persistent problem we face in granting equal pay for equal work. Yet it is still not clear in some cases what is equal work. “Full-time work,” for example, is not universally the same number of hours per week. If in some occupations salaried men work more hours per week than salaried women, for whatever reason, then perhaps the hourly pay disparity is less than it otherwise appears.

Women are commonly acknowledged to spend more time on average than men in maintaining family households even when both are said to work “full-time.” This may enable salaried men to devote more hours to paid work each week than women. If salaried men do work more hours for their higher incomes, then their actual hourly wages may more nearly compare with the hourly wages earned by their salaried women counterparts.

Moreover, in any given year, salaried men who work more hours accrue more hours of experience. When accumulated hours of experience are taken into account, a “year of experience” is no longer a constant. It would be nice to understand if pay is based upon accumulated experience. Perhaps if this variable were factored out, we would see less disparity between men’s and women’s wages than now appears.

ARNOLD M. RUSKIN

La Canada