Thursday, June 10, 2010

Gender Equality

This article about Sweden brings up some interesting economic points.  I will discuss one:

Women earn less than men because they take more time off work to take care of children.  In the USA, women with no children earn as much as men.  The only way to equalize pay is to give men the same parenthood benefits and time off that women get.  Sweden has done this, and the result is that men and women have pay and positions that are much closer than in most countries.

It is impossible to legislate equal pay for women, while giving them more benefits.  If you want gender equality, the only way to do it is by mandating more benefits for men.

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