I could have guessed! When I was at BYU, I interviewed for secretarial jobs at BYU, and one of the questions they asked me was, "Do you plan on getting pregnant soon?" I was from another state, and had a unionized job, so I was flabbergasted. I refused to answer the question. Naturally I didn't get the jobs--as a robot in a stuffy windowless basement, with just a shared table, not even a cubicle, and no breaks. So, I taught piano lessons, using my references, and making my own hours and pay. I made more money in one day than the BYU job paid in a week.

I thought it was illegal to ask that question.

Edit.. yep! Federal law. But perhaps BYU is above the law.

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/foia/letters/2007/pregnancy_discrimination.html

edit 2 sort of. they can ask, but can't discriminate. (???)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2013 11:23PM by rationalguy.

Very interesting. But do they take overall pay or do they break it down to the amount in each industry? Because in Provo-Orem, well, Utah in general, there are SO many TBM women who realize once they have kids and want to put them in sports and piano lessons and all, that they have to work. So many of these women have little or no college and take retail, call center or housekeeping jobs. Heck, the ones who get good secretarial jobs are the ones who are a step ahead and often have some college and good skills, but still make peanuts. So yeah, men are reared to go to work and make good money and women fall into it by necessity. I'm not sure if a woman working retail or a call center makes that much less than a man doing the same thing.

of a working man or a working woman. They do not take the industry or specific job title into account, much less experience level.

In that case, the many women who were encouraged to study "being a housewife" by TSCC and didn't obtain any education beyond high school could be pulling the women's average down.

Another fruit of the one and only true church.

The statistics are worthless unless you compare like to like.

Or entry level mechanical engineer. Or insurance adjuster with 5 years' experience.

It really is amazing how many Mormon women with families, even ones who live in the upper class neighborhoods, have little or no education past high school. Maybe a semester or two of College to find a husband. Not all, but many. And when you are around them for very long, it shows. The conversations are very shallow. Current events are whatever is big on Fox News. They can't remember what was in the news six months ago or why. They can tell you who is still in the running on The Bachelor, but not who Ghandi was. They will talk about Benghazi but you say words like USS Cole, or Karachi or Fawn Hall and they're like, "huh?"

And that's just when you can get the subject off kids. So yeah I think these stats are quite skewed. Even if it were a comparison of pay of professionals or of educated people. But there are not a lot of women in those categories in Utah.

That statistic only shows women make less. It doesn't explain why. Provo women are encouraged to shun work and get married for baby-making chores, which may be even worse than lower wages.

But the statistic made us take a look at Provo, didn't it? Stats are prime material for interpretation. Kind of like conversation starters.

So, yes. Show us the stats, dk.

The story was on the news feeds. I admit it doesn't look at pay between men and women with the same education and experience. But when it comes to private companies, how many would actually admit paying women less? Maybe the real question is, how can women expected to be treated? Will their education, skills and experience be valued, or will they be dismissed because they are women?

Since Mormon girls rarely get past an entry level position before dropping out of the work force to raise kids, I wonder how much that is skewing the numbers.

I made the grand mistake of reading the comments on that article. One was from a very Mormon person, orat leat a very Mo-minded person who went on and on about SAHM and such. Very tangential and as irritating as a stone in one's shoe.

SAHMs probably are effecting it, but that is probably not as good as an excuse as the Mormon defender thinks, since most of those families could either really benefit from a second income, or have SAHMs that would be happier working.