Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap -- and What Women Can Do About It (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Self-help books for those who believe "You can have it all" often advise, "Follow your bliss, and money will follow..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Why do men earn more than women? Because they deserve to, argues this contrarian challenge to feminist conventional wisdom. Men work longer hours at more dangerous and disagreeable jobs. They more readily accept night shifts, hardship postings to Alaska and entrepreneurial risks. Men get in-demand degrees in engineering, while women get degrees in French literature. Female librarians earn less than garbagemen, not because of discrimination, but because so many applicants compete for the safe, clean, comfortable, convenient, fulfilling jobs women prefer. Indeed, the author insists, statistics show that women and men with equal experience and qualifications, doing the same job, for the same hours, under the same conditions-get paid the same. Farrell, author of The Myth of Male Power, usefully points women towards high-paying, male-dominated fields that are becoming female friendly and suggests that ambitious women marry stay-at-home husbands. But he considers men the real victims, taken advantage of because of their innate chivalry and social expectations that they trade earning power for love and sex and be "willing to die to support the wives and children." He decries anti-male discrimination in occupations like teaching, nursing and cocktail-waitressing, and pillories comparable worth initiatives as "spoiled-brat economics." A whole chapter is devoted to "genetic celebrities"-i.e., beautiful women (exemplified in photos of same) whom men shower with free dinners, gifts and home repairs and who "marry up" into cushy lifestyles paid for by workaholic husbands. Ostensibly a road-map to workplace equality, Farrell's portrait of pampered, ungrateful women and stoic, self-sacrificing men may strike some readers as an unhelpful caricature.
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Review

"Why Men Earn More" will provide much food for thought, no matter where you stand in the pay-gap debate. -- CNN.money, Jeanne Sahadi

"You'll not put this book down.... You'll be treated to an engaging discussion about effective steps to earn more money." -- Mildred Culp, Workwise columnist

"designed to give information in order to make empowering choices that will lead to a more balanced and fulfilling life." -- Erika Welz Prafder, New York Post, March 28, 2005

This book--complete with far more textured, subtle arguments than a column can ever convey--will make you think twice." -- Jeanne Sahadi, senior writer, CNNMoney.com

Why Men Earn More" goes on my reference shelf as a book I will quote and re-read despite disagreements." -- Wendy McElroy, ifeminists.com, February 24, 2005

[the book]does treat an important subject comprehensively,fairly&accurately,drawing on international trends even as it focuses on the United States. -- Bloomberg News

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814472109
• ISBN-13: 978-0814472101
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #279,231 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gets women to think forward, not inside their guts, September 19, 2005

By	Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book seems to generate a lot of contradictory responses, especially from people who are quick to tear apart the author's statistics. While a lot of his statements are indeed based on the numbers (and I could quibble with a few of them myself), I think his premise and conclusion are clear enough: there are things women can do to move ahead in their career, and many women aren't doing those things. That alone makes this book worth your attention.

For example, the author points out that there are some professions that are nearly all male, which women don't seem anxious to enter. Garbage collection, for example. Jobs that involve being outside, dirty, or in danger pay more... and those are held primarily by men. When women DO enter those careers, the professions tend to get safer.

I've been a woman in the computer industry for a long time; I've written and spoken on the subject on a few occasions (including doing my own share of debunking statistics). One statistic offered by the author resonated with me: a person who works 45 hours a week earns 44% more than a person working 40 hours a week. I've seen more women drop their pencils at 5:01pm than I've seen men do so, in my industry; I'm convinced that women who put in a few extra hours will have more career opportunities than those who don't.

All of which feels like a heck of a tangent from "is this a good book? should you fork over your own hard-earned clams to buy it?" But, to the contrary, I think it demonstrates how much this book demands that you RESPOND to it (particularly if you're a women, or work with any women). Even I, who try hard to write dispassionate reviews, feel compelled to give personal anecdotes.

If you come to this book with preconceived notions, this book probably won't change them. However, if you're looking for ways to move your own career forward -- or to understand why some women you work with seem to be stalled -- I heartily recommend reading Why Men Earn More.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Check your bias at the door, March 29, 2005

By	E. R. Pihl "Magnum" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The most important aspect of Dr. Farrell's work is his meticulous citation of his sources. The feminist mantra that women earn a fraction of what men earn is statistically true, but upon closer examination, as Dr. Farrell does, it's not completely true. Gender differences is a very touchy subject and I recommend to anyone who reads this book to read the footnotes - either prove to yourself that it's true or disprove it. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) gives an individual a right to the same contractual pay and benefits as a person of the opposite sex in the same employment, where the man and the woman are doing like work, or work rated as equivalent under an analytical job evaluation study, or work that is proved to be of equal value. I've always wondered that if women did earn less than men why wasn't there a proportionate amount of law suits brought under the EPA? Dr. Farrell answers the question.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, The Truth Is Available, February 20, 2005

By	G. Reid (Roseland, NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a well-researched book that definitely tells the truth that Companies are not going to pay $1.00 to one worker if another worker is available for 59 cents. It is supply and demand of workers, not gender discrimination.

The author introduces 25 factors of jobs and careers that make the jobs either less desirable or more demanding or both. Some of these factors are long hours, more travel, commission only, irregular hours, high risk, etc. Jobs containing one or more of these factors may pay a bigger paycheck but always at a cost to the worker such as time away from home, longer commute, taking the job home at night, dangerous environment, etc. Pay differences are determined mostly by who is willing to take these "worse" jobs. In fact when all of these 25 factors are controlled so that you have either a man or woman in the same job, the women on average earn the same as men or more than men in about 90 job classifications.