howard@metheus.UUCP (Howard A. Landman) (05/22/84)
Those who have been following the discussion on Allstate Insurance may be interested in an article titled "Vernacular Gender" by Ivan Illich in a recent issue of CoEvolution Quarterly. One of the points he makes is that the ratio of women's pay to men's pay has remained utterly constant at 59% plus or minus 3% across all times and all cultures for which this data exists. (Note: I'm not 100% sure I remembered this figure right, but I think it is.) This hints at the existence of a cause independent of specific cultures. THERE HAS BEEN NO IMPROVEMENT IN THE LAST 100 YEARS. The only thing that has changed is that more women are now earning salaries and are thus subject to this easily measured form of discrimination. Illich argues that this is a necessary effect of industrial society, and that it cannot be undone without a lowering of economic expectations. He has many interesting examples, such as a German town where the divorce rate boomed when the people changed from subsistence farming to cash crops. In the olden days, there were well defined gender-related economic roles that people played out. Even the tools used for similar tasks were different for men and women. Modern economics has crushed this by demanding that all work be unisex, i.e., performable by either men or women. He views this as necessary to the discrimination we now observe. Illich does not attempt to explain in this article why men, and not women, ended up on top in this inequality. He merely tries to show why and how the inequality was able/forced to develop, and what he feels must be done to eliminate it. I don't agree with all of it, but it is well-argued. Howard A. Landman ogcvax!metheus!howard
mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (05/25/84)
From: howard@metheus.UUCP (Howard A. Landman) [referring to an article by Ivan Illich]: One of the points he makes is that the ratio of women's pay to men's pay has remained utterly constant at 59% plus or minus 3% across all times and all cultures for which this data exists. Although I'm reluctant to challenge Ivan Illich, he (or Howard) has erred on this. Pay equity is closer to 89% in Sweden, and other progressive countries have also made large strides. The problem is political and economic, not genital. Mike Kelly ..!ihnp4!tty3b!mjk