This is always a silly argument, and I’ll tell you why. Because companies love profit. Since not everyone hires employees and manages budgets or is qualified to for a corporation, let’s use an analogy most people can get. You go on eBay to buy a toaster. Everything is “buy it now” or “make offer.”
So toaster 1 is the greatest toaster EVER- it’s $500. Toaster 2 is your second pick, it’s great and will fit nicely in your kitchen. It’s $100.
Toaster 3 and 4 are basically identical to each other and would probably be great but are maybe a little less fancy than toaster 2. Toaster 3 is $75 and toaster 4 is $70. Toaster 5 would work. Nothing special but you suspect it will do the job fine. Toaster 6 is a wild card. You are on the fence about wether it can even function in the job you need it for, but it’s $30.
So…. MOST people aren’t going to buy the $500 toaster even though it is perfect because- most people don’t take toast that seriously. It doesn’t make sense…
… on the opposite end is toaster 6- the $30 toaster. I wouldn’t buy the bare minimum hope it works toaster- but a lot of people would, either to save money or because they can’t afford more, or because the job isn’t that critical. But most people who want to reliably get the toasting job done will shoot for the middle. The $100 toaster is nice. Second pick and you do t lose a lot compared to the $500- but… what if you only have $80 to spend? That one is out unless we offer $80 and they take it. Let’s say they don’t.. So now we have toasters 3 and 4. Both are about the same but one is $5 less. What if we offer each seller $10 less? Of toaster 4 won’t budge but toaster 3 they take the offer- we now got the toaster that will do a solid job and saved some money.
So sometimes women ask for less or don’t negotiate (there are many theories on cultural factors etc..) but many times employers just know they can generally offer women less money and they’ll take it. If you think outside some very critical jobs that the way hiring works is that companies always choose the absolute best candidate and don’t consider money- that’s rather sweetly naive. And if a woman applies to 10 jobs in her field and all offer around the same salary- is it not reasonable to assume that’s what the industry at large will pay her, and accept it, since she probably does need a salary to pay bills..?
I think the issue at hand is less about a group of people consciously paying women less, or specifically not hiring women even though they could pay less.
For mid-level+ positions, people filling those roles are often promoted into them. So, if men are promoted more often they are the ones getting experience that they can take to another organization or continue moving up in the current organization.
There are a lot of factors that determine who gets promoted—some as simple as asking for a promotion (which men are more likely to do). Ultimately, experience is one of the easiest ways to get in.
If I am deciding between a $75 [brand I have experience with] toaster and a $70 [brand I have no experience with] toaster, it’s easier to justify the additional $5 to get something I feel confident about.
So toaster 1 is the greatest toaster EVER- it’s $500. Toaster 2 is your second pick, it’s great and will fit nicely in your kitchen. It’s $100.
Toaster 3 and 4 are basically identical to each other and would probably be great but are maybe a little less fancy than toaster 2. Toaster 3 is $75 and toaster 4 is $70. Toaster 5 would work. Nothing special but you suspect it will do the job fine. Toaster 6 is a wild card. You are on the fence about wether it can even function in the job you need it for, but it’s $30.
So…. MOST people aren’t going to buy the $500 toaster even though it is perfect because- most people don’t take toast that seriously. It doesn’t make sense…
For mid-level+ positions, people filling those roles are often promoted into them. So, if men are promoted more often they are the ones getting experience that they can take to another organization or continue moving up in the current organization.
There are a lot of factors that determine who gets promoted—some as simple as asking for a promotion (which men are more likely to do). Ultimately, experience is one of the easiest ways to get in.
If I am deciding between a $75 [brand I have experience with] toaster and a $70 [brand I have no experience with] toaster, it’s easier to justify the additional $5 to get something I feel confident about.