A column by the brilliant Argentinian economist, Juan Carlos de Pablo, published by La Nacion, shows how certain aspects of the gender agenda need careful analysis due to their collateral effects.

De Pablo analyses the importance of understanding the cause for wage differences. Is it cultural or are there real reasons? Should there be real reasons, could the solution be worse than the problem?

Could it be possible for a genuine cause to lead to a poor implementation that may rise inflation?

Why are women paid less than men?

By Juan Carlos de Pablo for La Nación

The National Congress, will make an attempt to eliminate gender wage gaps by enacting a new law. To avoid increasing the problems that already exist, and with the assistance of experts, legislators should analyze the reasons for this gap. If it turns out to be pure discrimination, legislation will do; but if there are genuine reasons, forcing wage equity will affect the demand of female workforce. Will this bill include a female quota in the private sector?

To gain better understanding on this topic, I interviewed Barbara Rose Bergmann (1927-2015), an American pioneer in gender economics studies. “You will be no one without a man, my mother told me, and that strengthen my feminist inclinations”, she said in 2004. She has observed that women tend to be excluded from better paid jobs (for instance, men are doctors, women are nurses), and segregation occurs even in the same sector: men are waiters in restaurant where tips are higher, while women work at cheaper restaurants.

An enthusiast of affirmative action policies, she co-founded the International Association of Feminist Economics. Just like Alan Coddington, Friedrich List, Karl Schlesinger and Henry Calvert Simons, she committed suicide.

-Given your professional activity, I guess you must be thrilled for what is currently going on in Argentina.

-I am.

-So, if you were a congresswoman, you would pass the bill that puts men and women on the same level as regards labor…

-Not necessarily.

-What do you mean?

– That, as Alfred Marshall said, whoever wants to improve reality must put their cool heads under the service of their fiery hearts. In this case, it means that prior legislating equal wages according to gender, we must ask ourselves why there is a difference.

– Meaning?

– In a country where for a certain job, which pays an equal wage, employers may feel the same about employing either men or women, but if for “tradition or chauvinism” women are paid less than men, a law that enforces equal payment may solve the problem. But, what would happen if the gender wage gap had a real reason?

– Such as?

– In a family where both, the husband and the wife work, if any of the children needs medical care, it is more likely that the mother will take care of the problem. Ergo, you could expect higher levels of absenteeism among women than among men. It is totally justified, given the problem, but it complicates the employer’s life.

– Is that the only reason?

-I named one. There must be several. As usual, it is not about abstract imagination, but of having specific information. Prior enacting the bill, legislators must analyze data with the support of experts.

– Equal pay for equal work sounds fair…

– It is. But let us remember that the salaried regime does not pay per unit produced, but per time. A woman and a man who, at home, produce an equal number of product units should be paid the same as they deliver those products. The salaried regime involves other risks.

– Labor opportunities should also be legislated.

– You do not need to remind that, I was a pioneer in this field of study. But, once again, before legislating, we must understand the reasons for the current situation.

– What would happen if there are real grounds for gender wage gap, and the bill is enacted by the Congress?

– The same thing that happens when rents are frozen: tenants are very happy, but those who wanted to rent suddenly find that there are no rental offers. Women could face greater difficulties to find a job.

– And if, in order to solve this, the female quota is established in the private sector?

– Labor informality will be encouraged, which is not precisely what the legislator has in mind if he/she wants to solve this problem.

– You don’t sound thrilled…

– On the contrary, I am contributing to prevent a genuine cause from failing due to a hurried or utopic implementation. There must be cases of real and plain discrimination, and in such cases, we can change legislation. In other cases, the reason for gender wage gap is real and, therefore, cannot be corrected with a simple law. In those cases, the key is to address the causes of the discrimination.

– One final question, and possibly a disturbing one for male employees. Should the gender wage gap bill be enacted, what would happen with men’s wages?

– It is a fair point. You must not think that if female wages rise, and male wages are kept the same, the correction will be made using money from the employers’ pockets. If the law prevents reducing male wages, the equation will cause a prices’ increase.

Source: La Nación