by Rev. R. D. Brown

Created on: March 21, 2008

Women should receive equal pay for equal work. Anything less would be discrimination based on gender and would be immoral and bigoted. There is nothing inherent to work performed by a male that makes it more valuable than work performed by female. It is the value a company receives from the efforts of an employee which should determine that employees compensation. Gender has no place in that equation therefore I must support equal pay for equal work.

But, I did say "for equal work" and that is where problems some times arise and accusations of discrimination are unfairly thrown about. Like it or not there are more differences between the average man and the average woman than their role in the reproductive process. Men, on average but not always, tend to be larger and physically stronger than women. In many jobs that difference is meaningless, but in some instances it has a real effect on the value of work an employee can perform.

A man and a woman working together in a retail outlet, light manufacturing, health care, or many other jobs where maximum physical output is not key to job performance should receive the same pay. Take my job for example. I am an industrial electrician employed to maintain and repair automated machinery. There is no reason that a woman with comparable education and experience could no perform my job as well as I do and therefore receive the same pay rate which I receive. On the other hand, a 180 pound man and a 110 pound woman employed to move furniture up to a 3nd floor apartment with no elevator are hardly going to accomplish the same work and therefore produce the same value. If the male produces more work then he should be paid in proportion. Substitute an woman of above average size and strength and a smaller male and the higher pay may well be earned by the woman.

So back to my answer. Yes, women should receive equal pay for equal work but that should be based on job performance just as it should be with any two workers. Equal title alone should not be a guarantee of equal pay unless the duties of the job can be accomplished with equal efficiency. But when job performance is equal it is nothing less than immoral to deny equal pay.

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