Re: Gender and tech writing

[Sara Schertz <SSchertz -at- INTERFACESOFTWARE -dot- COM>]

Down the left side of the table, the survey lists a number of categories
- employment level, education level, gender, age, and years of
experience. Across the top, it lists the percentiles (Base, Mean, 10%,
25%, 50%, 75%, and 90%). It then shows the result for each category,
broken out by percentiles.

Unfortunately, it doesn't combine the categories. So no, you can't see
the experience levels broken out by gender. You can only compare
percentiles - what are the women in the 90th percentile making compared
with the men in the 90th percentile - that sort of thing.

Of course, the survey is a relatively small sample (643 respondents),
and, as I noted, more women replied than men, so I wouldn't rely heavily
on the results. Who knows, maybe all the lower-paid men didn't bother to
respond in the US.


-----Original Message-----
From: Hope Cascio [mailto:hope -dot- d -dot- cascio -at- US -dot- ARTHURANDERSEN -dot- COM]
Sent: Thursday, June 25, 1998 11:06 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: Gender and tech writing


I read in Working Mother Magazine (or is it Working Woman?  I don't
recall)
        that technical writing is one of the best fields for gender pay
        equity.  I do have a few "devil's advocate" questions for Sara's
        figures, though.

Is experience broken out by gender?  Point is, if women have more mean
        years of experience, it would make sense for them to make more.
        And the percentile figures... are those within the gender or
        overall?

Hope Cascio


Sara Schertz <SSchertz -at- INTERFACESOFTWARE -dot- COM> wrote:

My copy of the 1997 STC Salary survey breaks out some of the figures by
gender. Interestingly, in the United States, the salaries for males are
consistently higher across all levels. Not by much - for example, the
mean salary for females is 45,370, while the mean for males is 49,210.
In the 90th percentile, the female salary is 60,000, while the male is
66,100.

However, when you turn the page and see the Canadian figures, the male
vs. female difference is not there - the salaries are almost equal
across all levels. In a few cases, the female salaries are higher. For
example, the Canadian mean salary for females is 47,200, while the mean
for males is 47,540. In the 90th percentile column, the females are at
60,000, while the males are at 59,000.

In both countries, the total number of female respondents was greater
than that of males (413 to 230 in the US, 143 to 65 in Canada).

I have no explanations for these numbers, especially the apparent lack
of difference in Canada. I can't imagine that the excuse "well, men have
been in the field longer and hold higher positions" still holds,
especially when even the highly paid (and presumably senior level)
female writers still don't make as much.

Hopefully this won't start a gender/flame war. Just throwing a few
numbers around.

Sara


-----Original Message-----
From: Laurel Gilbert [mailto:Laurel -at- NICHE-ASSOCIATES -dot- COM]
Sent: Thursday, June 25, 1998 10:20 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Gender and tech writing


I just read a pretty depressing statistic.

In the state of Utah (where I live) women are *still* only making $0.62
for every dollar made by men.  Nationally (the U.S.), those numbers are
a *bit* better; women are now making $0.72 for every male dollar.

Ugh.

Are there any sallary survery's that look at how gender impacts tech
writing?  Am I lucky enough to be in a job where I'm pretty close to
what my male counterparts are making, or am I just ignorant of the fact
that the guys down the hall *are* making almost $0.40 more per hour than
I am?

Any comments?

Laurel

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