Gender-Pay Gap Alive and Well in Germany

Today the Washington Post featured an article about the gender-pay gap in Germany, where women are still paid around 88 cents to the man's dollar. If we take the corporations at their word, it's mostly a function of biology. After all, women are only going to get pregnant, have babies, and quit their jobs anyway, so why hire them "for real," right?

This argument is insulting. Sure, some women will no doubt have babies and quit their jobs, at least temporarily, to care for their children. But no company, boss, or co-worker can know who these women will be before the fact. You can't predict this eventuality based on the presence of absence of a person's uterus. Some women don't even want children (hard to believe, I know, but nevertheless true). Others never have children because their careers are more important. Let's be fair and not assume all women are the same, with same goals and dreams. We are not identical automatons just standing around waiting to get pregnant. This is a courtesy everyone extends to men without even blinking. Of course men aren't all the same. Men are unique individuals, with unique goals and abilities and lives. So why do some people continue to believe that women have identical aspirations? Women are just as varied as men are. (This is also a problem in racial prejudice, but that's another post.)

My favorite quote from the article:

Stefan Linz, 32, said it makes "no sense" to fight for equality on the job because men and women are not the same. As he balanced a 5-gallon plastic jug on his left shoulder, making his rounds to deliver water to Hamburg offices, he said a woman wouldn't be strong enough to do what he does.

"We should cherish the differences," Linz said. "Women are the ones who get pregnant. Families are falling apart because women don't stay home. Isn't it time we just face the facts?"

Um, what facts, exactly? This man, apparently like so many others, does not see the fallacy of his argument about families falling apart because women don't stay home. Where are the responsibilities (and the rights) of men in this scenario? Why do we automatically expect women to be the ones to drop everything and stay home to be the caretaker? This should be a responsibility of men as well. Not only that, but my bet is that there are men who desperately want this opportunity but can't take it because they aren't offered any kind of paternity leave in their jobs.

The answer is pretty clear to me: it's time to insist on gender equality all the way around. It's not just the pay gap, it's the caretaker-gap, the expectations-gap, etc. Fathers have to take responsibilities for families just as mothers have. Mothers have the same right to a career outside the home as fathers do. When women do work outside the home, they are entitled to equal pay for equal work. They are entitled to freedom from assumptions about their futures.

I also want to discuss the value of so-called "women's work" but I'll save that for another post.