brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (03/03/85)
A system that tells people who they can and cannot hire is NOT a capitalist system - don't call it that. The point is that equal pay for work of equal value IS the capitalist system. Capitalism means free trade and that means that things cost exactly what they are worth because the definition of value is what you can charge for something. While legislation may be necessary in the SHORT TERM to correct basic inequality in things like education level, there is never any need for laws at the employer end. Face it. If an employer refuses to hire women at a reasonable price, as long as there are some employers who will, then that first employer will get poor employees. All the best of 1/2 the human race will work for the employers who DO pay. And hiring bad employees is plain old bad business practice. And in a competitive market, you know what the result of inferior business practices is. The fact that some employers are stupid enough to be sexist in their hiring policies is their fault. It's not our job to help them stay afloat. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
nap@druxo.UUCP (Parsons) (03/05/85)
> While legislation may be necessary in the SHORT TERM to correct basic > inequality in things like education level, there is never any need for laws > at the employer end. > > Face it. If an employer refuses to hire women at a reasonable price, as long > as there are some employers who will, then that first employer will get > poor employees. All the best of 1/2 the human race will work for the > employers who DO pay. And hiring bad employees is plain old bad business > practice. And in a competitive market, you know what the result of > inferior business practices is. > > The fact that some employers are stupid enough to be sexist in their hiring > policies is their fault. It's not our job to help them stay afloat. > -- > Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473 This strikes me as naieve. There are plenty of female-dominated professions for which there are no employers willing to pay a reasonable salary. How many nurses, teachers, and secretaries are paid what they are worth? And why is it that men who enter these professions are almost invariably paid more? Do you really believe that the few men in these careers are better than any of the women? The rest of your argument holds only if there are enough jobs to employ more than the best. Otherwise, some of the best can be turned down without danger to the employer. Finally, many businesses depend on their employees being accepted by others (even by "bad" businesses). You can have the best ___________ (insert "salesperson," "seminary professor," "diplomat," or whatever) in the business, but if that person is not accepted because they are female, black or whatever, you'll be forced to hire a person of lesser ability who *IS* accepted by the bigots. Unfortunately, the same kind of thing holds for inter-company positions. I can be the best ________ in the world, but if the other employees will not open the lines of communication to me, my ability is utterly useless in most, if not all, professions. Nancy Parsons AT&T ISL