Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site trwrba.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!amd!decwrl!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrba!prudence From: prudence@trwrba.UUCP Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Do Statistics Prove Discrimination Against Women? Message-ID: <879@trwrba.UUCP> Date: Fri, 3-Aug-84 15:34:08 EDT Article-I.D.: trwrba.879 Posted: Fri Aug 3 15:34:08 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 5-Aug-84 06:18:40 EDT Organization: TRW EDS, Redondo Beach, CA Lines: 25 ....... Once more the demagogues are lying with statistics, and once more shall I set the record straight, though I have long since lost faith in the power of truth against willful ignorance. The statistical lie is that women are victims of discri- mination because they earn less than men. The facts are these: In 1978, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released the results of the most expensive, most thorough investigation of this subject ever undertaken. It confirmed that the average woman makes less than the average man -- that was never in doubt -- but it found absolutely no evidence that this was because of discrimination. Instead, the study found that the average woman takes more part-time jobs than the average man, that the average woman drops out of the job market for longer than the average man, that the average woman has less educa- tion than the average man, that the average woman is less likely to take a unionized job than the average man, and so on and so forth. In short, when women are compared with equally qualified men in competition for the same jobs, the study confirmed that the average woman will be paid at least as much as the man. She will, in fact, earn more thanks to Affirmative Action. Sexual discrimination is wrong, period.