Iceland has recently announced a U.N. conference on women and gender equality, however, only men will be involved in this specific conference. The purpose of this is to start truly getting men involved in the gender equality issue, which has proved quite a challenge, since many women's rights activists are women themselves. Thinking in terms of our last class, I began to think about externalities regarding the gender pay gap. While the numbers representing the gender pay gap are highly debated, assuming its existence, if workers (male and female) earned wholly equal wages for the same position I envision a positive externality increasing competition in the work place, leading to higher economic production.
First, do you think this is an effective measure taken by the UN to start involving men in the gender equality push?
And
Second, do you agree with my hypothesized positive external outcome, or do you see wage equality resulting in a different outcome? Would this even be an externality?
Article from NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/09/29/world/europe/ap-un-united-nations-iceland.html?ref=world
I agree completely that the UN and all other organizations need to introduce men into the equation for gender equality. A large portion of government is made up by males; this means they are in control of passing legislation that can help the battle on gender equality. Women are the ones being affected, but they cannot be supported fully without their male counterparts. It is a sad truth. Giving men the information about gender equality is the first step to solving the issue. They do not think there is a problem because they don't have any information to acknowledge there is a problem. Even if there is a problem, they won't admit to this until a higher power forces them to handle it.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the second portion of your discussion, I do agree that higher economic production will be a result. The basic wage supply and demand graph agrees with your hypothesized theory. If wages are higher, there will be a higher supply for those specific positions. I hope this issue will soon be given many more serious discussions as the U.N. conference proceeds.
Side note: The Wall Street Journal seems to have neglected this conference, at least from what I have seen.
I too agree that introducing men into the gender equality talk is a good idea. I do question however, whether there should be at least some women at the meeting. I think that having some women there would allow them to also have their input on what the men are saying in this meeting and I think that it could help the meeting be more efficient. As far as the second question I also agree that having more competition in the workplace (male or female) should create a positive externality. The workplace should become more efficient and more productive.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think it is a good idea for the UN to start getting men involved in the gender equality push. People often see the feminist movement as "anti man", mainly because the most of the proponents of feminism are indeed women. This movement may be seen in a more positive light if some men openly support it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your hypothesis Mr. Blough. I think making sure women are paid the same as men would create a more competitive and productive workplace, which will help out our economy as a whole.