Equal Pay for Equal Risk

In 2002, over 5,000 US men died on the job.

No, I do not mean “persons.” In the real world, ninety-two percent of those who die at work are men.

That’s something to consider when you hear calls for sexual equality at work: from time immemorial, it has been up to men to do any work that is “dirty, difficult, and dangerous”—the same work that, in developed lands like Japan, Korea, and Western Europe, is now often assigned to “guest workers,” too poor to have other options; or simply sent offshore. If women in developed countries are now flooding into the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, this may have much to do with a higher proportion of jobs available in developed countries that are clean, pleasant, and safe. There is less hewing wood and hauling hay and more chatting on the phone and comfy chairs than there once was.

But even when a man and a woman are nominally doing the same job—never mind who makes the coffee. If there is occasional heavy lifting to be done, who does it? If there is question of physical risk, even minor, who takes it?

If we are going to truly have equal pay for equal work, we must also seek equality in the “three D’s.” Failing this, there is every reason to pay men more, and “pay equity” calculations must consider this.