{"id":400,"date":"2003-10-07T07:11:09","date_gmt":"2003-10-07T15:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2003\/10\/07\/myth-if-women-really-got-paid-less-for-similar-work-then-employers-would-replace-all-of-the-male-workers-with-female-workers-wage-gap-series-part-8\/"},"modified":"2019-01-31T01:59:40","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T09:59:40","slug":"myth-if-women-really-got-paid-less-for-similar-work-then-employers-would-replace-all-of-the-male-workers-with-female-workers-wage-gap-series-part-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=400","title":{"rendered":"Myth: If women really got paid less for similar work, then employers would replace all of the male workers with female workers (wage gap series, part 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This is one of a series of posts on the wage gap<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

On page 16 of the anti-feminist economics handbook Women’s Figures<\/i>, <\/a>the authors explain that “if women were only paid seventy-four cents on a man’s dollar, then a firm could fire all its men, replace them with women, and have a cost advantage over rivals.” This argument – or some variation of it – is commonplace among anti-feminists (for another example, see Warren Farrell’s discussion in his book The Myth of Male Power<\/i><\/a>).<\/p>\n

This argument sounds logical enough – so long as we assume that no other factors aside from the wage gap are operating. But in the real-world economy, other factors are always <\/i>operating. (Curiously enough, this flawed logic can be used to “prove” not only that discrimination against women doesn’t exist, but also that racial discrimination doesn’t exist, and furthermore that neither racial nor sexual discrimination has ever<\/i> existed.)<\/p>\n

Some industries have, in effect, saved money by gradually replacing a male work force with a female work force. But there are many reasons employers might retain a male workforce, even though the pay gap means that men are paid more on average.<\/p>\n

Why employers would retain a male work force.<\/b><\/p>\n

If the only thing in the world to think about was the gender pay gap, no doubt many employers would look for ways to immediately replace their male workforces. But that’s not how things work in the real world. Employers have many compelling reasons not to fire all the men; here are just a few.<\/p>\n