If Women Were More Like Men: Why Females Earn Less | Hacker News Reader

If Women Were More Like Men: Why Females Earn Less

time.com

7 pointsmakimaki3 comments

The difference in pay between FTMs and MTFs was 1.5% in this study, and the article seems to suggest that this explains the 29% difference in pay between biological men and women. That's just staggeringly disingenuous. If anything, it means that discrimination is responsible for 5% of the pay difference between men and women, and the rest is due to pregnancy, child-rearing choices, intermittent employment, and so on. Note that this is not what I'm arguing. I'm just saying that the data in question better support that conclusion than the one the article mentions.

Further, fta:

Also, it's harder for MTFs to pass than FTMs: men who become women still have large hands and bigger frames.

If ever there was a case of absolute symmetry, it's this one. Unless, of course, women who become men don't have small hands and small frames! This article is mind-bogglingly vapid.

I know. Someone was wrong on the internet. I should just relax.

RTFA. The difference in pay was much greater than 1.5%. Men who became women took a 32% pay cut, while women who became men got a 1.5% pay raise. Assuming two trangsender people were earning the exact same amount beforehand, then the new women were earning only two-thirds the pay of the new men. That would explain the difference in pay between biological men and women.

I agree though that the study probably doesn't explain everything. I imagine transgender people look a little funny, and people who look funny won't get paid as much.

Looks like I missed a sentence from the article. However, the difference for FTMs was only 1.5%. I'd have to presume that there was a job change involved for all these people, as anyone who received a 32% pay cut in the same job for going MTF would certainly have a winnable case for discrimination.

Aside: "RTFA?" Seriously? I mean, despite the clear evidence that I'd at least (mis)read the article from my post? I thought I needed to relax because someone was wrong on the internet.

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