Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site randvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcs!lsuc!pesnta!hplabs!sdcrdcf!randvax!edhall
From: edhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Equal pay for comparable worth
Message-ID: <2321@randvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 23-Feb-85 07:01:19 EST
Article-I.D.: randvax.2321
Posted: Sat Feb 23 07:01:19 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 09:11:58 EST
References: <239@mhuxr.UUCP> <18200003@uiucdcsp.UUCP>
Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica
Lines: 53

> 
> Labor IS just another commodity -- and its value should
> be set be the FREE market.  Since in the US human beings
> are free to CHOOSE their occupation, regardless of sex,
> I don't see why Ed is whining.  Unless, of course, he has
> chosen a field that is not in as a high a demand as some
> others, and now feels that society has cheated him.  How 
> would he have wages and salaries determined, if not be
> the free market?

Labor is just another commodity?  Funny, I always thought that labor
was what human beings did to keep themselves alive and happy.  Those
who make ``the free market'' such a matter of dogma seem quite happy
to treat human beings as a commodity just like cattle, microchips, or
iron ore.  But any system that treats people this way is morally
corrupt.  I have news for you: a truckload of iron ore doesn't have
to eat, find shelter, pay bills, or provide itself some feeling of
self-worth.

Certainly, we choose our occupations.  In fact, you might be able to
make two or three such choices in your lifetime, if you're lucky, and
if you have the time and money to re-train.  Of course, you'll likely
find the moment for the better choices is long past, but you weren't
aware of them at the time.  It seems that certain of us were told that
our sex made us better suited for one job over another.  By the time
you realize any differently, it is usually far too late.  But, of
course, that is irrelevant, because when it comes time to put a price-
tag on your head, there are no excuses, and no easy way to make
changes.  Like almost anything, changes take money, but money is just
what you don't have, right?

How does the ``free market'' make this any more fair?  It would seem
that almost any way of allocating wages would be better.


Why am I ``whining''?  You tell me; as a UNIX systems expert of seven
years experience, I know that I'm worth plenty; businesses certainly
seem to be willing to pay people with my kind of expertise far more
than seems fair.  Why unfair?  Well, when you consider that I am paid
more than a top-scale teacher is, and when you consider that my long-
range contribution to society may be far less than a good teacher's,
how can you say it's fair?  The only thing that makes me ``worth''
more is how much money a business could make as a result of my work
in the next year or two, as opposed to the work of a teacher.

Perhaps this has gotten pretty far afield of a net.women-type
posting.  But I think that anyone who wants to change the status-
quo, such as feminists do, should consider just how economics often
enforces the status-quo--and how human--especially women's--concerns
are often ignored in favor of the oft-flawed mathematics of economics.

		-Ed Hall
		decvax!randvax!edhall