Instigator / Pro
12
1500
rating
9
debates
38.89%
won
Topic
#4165

The Gender Wage Gap is not an example of patriarchy.

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
6
6
Better sources
4
4
Better legibility
2
2
Better conduct
0
2

After 2 votes and with 2 points ahead, the winner is...

Barney
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
Two days
Max argument characters
30,000
Voting period
One month
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
14
1815
rating
50
debates
100.0%
won
Description

Gender = Defined here as only men and women, for that is what the "wage gap" is centered around.
Wage Gap= Differences in earnings between men and women, calculated by taking ALL full-time male workers and ALL full-time female workers, calculating the average, not accounting for several different variables.
Patriarchy= A (supposed or not) system of power that benefits men and subjugates women.

PRO'S BURDEN: Prove that the wage gap is not an exxample of patriarchy.
CON'S BURDEN: Prove that the wage gap IS an exmple of patriarchy.

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

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@whiteflame
@Sir.Lancelot

Sorry I meant to tag you both

Voter: Sir.Lancelot
Vote: All 7 pts for CON
"Forfeiture."
Decision: Removed
Reasoning: Voter does not specify the clear reasons as to why the arguments, s&g, and sources for CON were better. From my perception as a moderator, if at least a significant attempt to have a debate, the voter must give a sufficient reasoning as to why the argument was better.

Voter: whiteflame
Vote: 3pts to CON for argument
"50% forfeit. Too bad, this one looked good."
Decision: Removed
Reasoning: Voter does not specify the clear reasons as to why the arguments for CON were better. From my perception as a moderator, if at least a significant attempt to have a debate, the voter must give a sufficient reasoning as to why the argument was better.

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@Vader

If you get a chance, please review whiteflame’s vote in this debate. Both he and I are ineligible due to conflicts of interest.

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@Barney

Can you handle my report or not?

I'll be damned. An equal voice as long as I can keep the chat informal. I wonder how long I can keep sharing inappropriate memes. Is it sustainable? I guess we'll find out

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@RationalMadman
@PREZ-HILTON

Wylted had too many bad moments to count; but people grow and change.

As Prez he’s got my respect.

Regarding the moderation chat, it’s really informal these days. To such ends, at least to me he’s got an equal voice to anyone else.

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@Barney

Can you respond to RM's accusation you don't respect me

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@PREZ-HILTON

Limiting reports so that they take more than two clicks per report does enough.
While a forfeited and conceded debate is unimportant, there’s plenty of things which are; to include things which do not get logged like spambots hitting the forum (we delete and ban without any red tape).

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@Bella3sp

The mods don't respect him at all. He has zero influence on this, he just won a position without having a platform and thinks he's hot shit.

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@PREZ-HILTON

Removing the ability for someone to tag you is absurd. He can't report and now you are suggesting taking away his ability to mention people (the mods)?

If someone believes different from you, which in this case he does, then let him. Who are you to say his vote is frivolous? I get it's frivolous to you, but to him it might not be. Even if he knows it is and that is likely, it doesn't matter. Just because you don't wanna hear 'complaints' or concerns doesn't mean you should take away someone's mention rights especially since he can't report.

Even if it is bothering the mods, it's anyone's right to report things. I understand mods aren't payed but on this website its there job to look into things that are of the members concerns. No matter how 'annoying' it is, read the report and if the mod doesn't think it violates the voting policy then they write if the report is denied and why. If they do agree it violates the voting policy then they adjust the vote and explain why.

On top of that, it does seem RM actually believes his stance. We recently had a conversation on the debate policy and can be seen here, https://www.debateart.com/debates/4124-islam-is-the-summarised-religion-of-jewish-and-christian?open_tab=comments&comments_page=1&comment_number=7

I don't agree with him but that his stance. And anyone should be allowed to report a vote especially when they feel it violates the Code of Conduct.

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@Barney
@whiteflame

RM is trying to circumvent his ban on reporting frivolous stuff by tagging you guys when he wants to report frivolous stuff. I suggest removing his ability to tag you guys

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@Barney
@Vader

I report whiteflame's vote (it won't let me report you have removed my ability to). He is only allowed to give the conduct points there, not the arguments points.

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@Decisively_Conservatist

-> "What's more, any federal employess that were discovered doing something like this were tried and convicted if proven guilty."
If only that were true. The report is from 2020. Do you have an updated report that says it's no longer the case, and/or evidence that those bosses from 2020 were put on trial?

Barney's answer in the coments is so brief, that everything he has written seems like a logical falalcy (unless he explains more).
I will just briefly answer one specifci part.

"When you're literally talking about the Federal Government doing something so widespread, you don't get more systemic than that."

The federal government is not one organism and being. In reality, A TINY TINY TINY percentage of EMPLOYESS (either higher in the ranks or not) were responsible for the 0.06 cent deficit in the governmental industry.

What's more, any federal employess that were discovered doing something like this were tried and convicted if proven guilty.

If anyone enjoyed this topic, there's a more simple take on it at:
https://www.debateart.com/debates/4120-the-gender-pay-gap-doesn-t-exist

i am aware of that.

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@Melcharaz

My reply to you was not to ask you to vote, it was just to discuss the points you raised.

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@Decisively_Conservatist

8 days after the fact, but still appreciated to see the direction you would have gone in had you not conceded. I'll give short answers to some highlights from it.

Even with all that extra time, you missed the core of the Is–Ought Problem. That you believe it /ought/ to not be an example, does not change that it /is/ an example.

...

-> "It is funny how Barney tries to debunk my argument, that admittedly, they haven't read."
Glad you enjoyed. Any time there's shared BoP, a proactive case is required. I merely withheld the direct debunking's for later. That said, there was a lot of overlap due to how predictable this topic gets.

-> "So, neither us, nor the voters can consider a source from just its abstract."
We do all the time. But yes, I would have willingly pulled out vital snippets from the full report to appease you.
That said, challenging sources is a tactic I wish I saw more of.

-> "we can logically deduct that this is one of the reasons the pay gap exists"
Oh that inflates it, but there was the 7% not explained by such factors.

-> "found that the gender wage gap among college graduates is explained by 33 to 66 percent by different preferences for occupational roles"
See adjusted gender pay gap. I pre-refuted this entire train of thought by not focusing on the non-adjusted gap.

-> "Could you tell me a WIDESPREAD NORM that prohibits women from entering particular fields or at least influences them to make certain choices?"
Don't need to, as I've shown a massive pay gap (average $43K/year) for physicians.

-> "THEMSELVES AND DELIBERATELY"
Again, the adjusted gender pay gap does apples to apples comparisons within any field both work.

-> "SYSTEMIC AND INSTITUTIONALISED PATRIARCHY?"
When you're literally talking about the Federal Government doing something so widespread, you don't get more systemic than that.

-> "Men face equivalent or even more examples of gender norms and/or discrimination"
Relevance to disproving that women are paid less for the same work?

-> "parent to instruct their daughter"
Parents raising their daughters to be little more than slaves, if widespread enough to cause the undeniable gender pay gap, is a fine example of patriarchy in itself.

-> "The unadjusted pay gap shows practically NOTHING"
Actually it shows the literal extent of what's a problem, and what's just random static due to other measurable variables. From 30% (or whatever number people throw around today) down to a meaningful 7%.

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@Barney

while i do appreciate your explanations and your intentions in this debate. i cannot in good conscience vote on this debate with the arguements given.

---What would have been pro's R2 (1 of 2)---
I. NOTES

It is funny how Barney tries to debunk my argument, that admittedly, they haven't read.

II. REFUTATIONS

"Patriarchy is apparently a “supposed or not” system which places men above women. And the wage gap (even if flawed) is a common example of that.
The patriarchy drives women into lower paying professions by discrimination [1],
The patriarchy and wage gap in the tech sector is decreasing, proving they exists [2], and
The patriarchy, through religion, represses women’s pay [3]."
1) Your third source here cannot count and can't contribute to the debate, as it required paid access of 30 dollars. So, neither us, nor the voters can consider a source from just its abstract.
2) Your second source has indeed some quite interesting conclusions, but I would like to point out the following quotes;

"Research has found several factors that partly explain the wage discrepancies between men and women and which are accounted for to different extents"

"Women’s workforce interruptions and shorter working hours, usually conditioned by having children, affect the gender wage gap, as men typically gain more labour market experience than women (Blau & Kahn, 2017). Similarly, Mihaila (2016) finds that human capital acquired in the labour market is the most influential factor in determining the wage gap. Furthermore, in their study of the United States labour market from 1968 to 1997, Gayle and Golan (2012) relate increases in the female labour share, caused by technological changes, declining costs of producing home goods, higher education levels, and demographic changes in marriage and fertility trends, to declines in the gender wage gap. The importance of demographic changes is moreover shown by Loughran and Zissimopoulos (2009). In their cross-sectional study of household in the United States in 1976 and 2004, they find that, while marriage has negative effects on both male and female wages, childbearing affects only female wages negatively, thus increasing the gender wage gap."

A) Unless you want to say that just because women are of the nature to bear children and have the sole responsibility of actually giving birth to a child, this is an example of patriarchy, which is absurd, we can logically deduct that this is one of the reasons the pay gap exists, that isn't patriarchal in nature.

B) So, the reasons that the pay gap has severely declined is because home goods have become cheaper (so women could do housework better and quicker, thus freeing up time for them to work (not saying they should be doing the housework, but still), and because they have less children and can focus more on their career. Are any of these two reasons patriarchy-induced?

"More recently, researchers considered psychological dissimilarities between men and women. For instance, Niederle and Vesterlund (2007) have shown in an experiment that women tend to avoid competition, while men have a tendency to embrace it. Such differences in behaviour would also be reflected in the gender wage gap. Furthermore, in a longitudinal study of a 1972 high school class cohort in the United States, Daymont and Andrisani (1984) found that the gender wage gap among college graduates is explained by 33 to 66 percent by different preferences for occupational roles and different choices of study fields."

Proves my point.

Last sentence of your source:

"However, further research needs to be done on the direction of causality and other possibly influential factors to the gender wage gap and economic growth than those considered in this study"

Again, it heavily implies my point.

3) About the first source;

“For example, by the time a woman earns her first dollar, her occupational choice is the culmination of years of education, guidance by mentors, expectations set by those who raised her, hiring practices of firms, and widespread norms and expectations about work–family balance held by employers, co-workers, and society. “

EXACTLY as it is about males. When they are children, they also receive guidance from mentors, by society , expectations and widespread norms like “men don’t cry”.
Could you tell me a WIDESPREAD NORM that prohibits women from entering particular fields or at least influences them to make certain choices?
I can do the same for men : Men don’t cry, you are always at fault about what a woman does (heavily implied, not announced) etc
It seems that the writer has “forgot” to mention that more women are in universities than men. Then, why is the case that the pay gap hasn’t been eliminated? Well, it is attributable to the fact that it COULD BE that men and women have different occupational choices, and yes, even though more women are educated, they THEMSELVES AND DELIBERATELY choose to major in low paying fields and sectors (I mean, no patriarchy forces you to choose what you will study in UNI)

---What would have been pro's R2 (2 of 2)---
III. QUESTIONS

I suspect one of the major reasons feminists cry so badly is “Pay Gap, Pay Gap!!!” is because it just happens that women are the least represented in highly paid managerial positions. Why is it that no feminists ever complain about the building sector being occupied 99% by men? Nearly all builders are men. Civilisation doesn’t only happen at the top of the “food chain”. If suddenly all labor workers vanished, CEOs couldn’t do anything about that. The whole society would crumble.

“Key points include:
A. Gender pay gaps within occupations persist, even after accounting for years of experience, hours worked, and education.
B. Decisions women make about their occupation and career do not happen in a vacuum—they are also shaped by society.
C. The long hours required by the highest-paid occupations can make it difficult for women to succeed, since women tend to shoulder the majority of family caretaking duties.
D. Many professions dominated by women are low paid, and professions that have become female-dominated have become lower paid. “

SOURCE?
As are men’s
OK, so?
Have you heard of supply and demand?

C) Somewhere in your sources, it was mentioned that in the federal sector, women face a 0.06 cent deficit of pay due to discrimination.
Is something that is obviously attributable to a few sexist higher-ups an example of SYSTEMIC AND INSTITUTIONALISED PATRIARCHY? I don’t think so…

IV. ARGUMENTS
The fact that women are influenced in their lives and educationally by others to choose a specific example constitutes no patriarchy.
Men face equivalent or even more examples of gender norms and/or discrimination (at least in our times in the western world).
Also, any possible instructions given by parents, mentors etc as mentioned in your source, ARE NOT NECESSARILY AND ALWAYS the result of a gender norm. E.g.
What if a girl is actually timid, very agreeable and “submissive” to their boyfriends or parents. Would it be a social norm for a parent to instruct their daughter to choose a position that is NOT managerial? I mean, this position would obviously be unfitted for this young woman. (Opposite situation about men is also true and a similar situation applies with opposite criteria).
And, since we have no stats on how much of these instructions are actually gender norms or real and good-faith instructions playing to the receiver’s strengths and avoiding weaknesses, we can safely assume that this is not an example of an institutionalized system of power aimed at benefiting men and subjugating women (patriarchy).
This claim is false;

“The key takeaway being that a discussion of the unadjusted, does not rule out the adjusted, as the adjusted is entirely contained within the unadjusted.”
Yes, it does, for the following reasons
The unadjusted pay gap is not an example of patriarchy, as;
The unadjusted pay gap shows practically NOTHING
This is a false syllogism. Imagine saying that (an imaginary fact, for the sake of argument) Greece has the greatest number of homeless people in the world, while I “forgot” to add the explanatory substatistic (adjusted statistic) that it has the greatest number of homeless people PROPORTIONATELY to its population. (so not absolute numbers)

V. CONCLUSIONS
In my argument, I have:
Pointed out abstracts of my opponent’s sources that if not prove, at least heavily imply my point.
Have pointed out the irrelevance and inelligibility of some of his sources
Made 2 important arguments about education and about the relation between unadjusted vs adjusted pay gap.
Posed some important questions that prove my point.

Awaiting your response…

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@Melcharaz

Sorry this debate was confusing for you.

R1 was the only real round of debate, after that with a concession in place I treated it as discussion rather than trying to prove/disprove claims.

-> "are we talking around the world?"
I used international examples to highlight both the harms and the clear connection to misogyny (as opposed to coincidence), yet also used undeniable examples from the Western World. This does highlight the importance of scope limitations when none are directly implied by the topic statement.

-> "How many people have to not pay/underpay women for it to be a patriarchy?"
We did not pick a precise percentage (this debate actually stemmed from a denial that the pay gap exists at all). It would be up to each voter if they believe the problem was shown to be widespread enough and harmful enough to be of significance (e.g., one little girl being underpaid for her lemonade stand out of the 150 million women in the USA, would not imply anything meaningful).
I believe that I was able to prove the adjusted averages at 7% in the USA, highlights the commonness and degree of harm from it to be more than enough to call it a system; and that women are intentionally targeted makes it an example of patriarchy.

-> "matriarchal and patriarchal origins"
Agreed. However, that both sides suck at times, does not change if either sucks.

-> "my question is, can it be proven to a wide extend as malicious or intentional?"
The debate was cut short after R1. While I believe my international examples implied it as malicious (women being murdered for wanting to know how to read), without those implications being challenged I had no reason to further bolster them.

-> "if possible please dont have to have people download pdf's, pay money or create a user to see info."
The downloading of PDFs is for official reports shared with the public as PDFs; often unavoidable but I don't think any of those from me were behind pay walls. I do however frequently cite journeys for which the full data is behind paywalls; but have they almost always have an abstract available to understand the gist of their conclusions.

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@Barney

In case anyone is interested, here is what my reply to Barney's R1 would have been. Had I been able to meet the deadline, this debate would have DEFINITELY been won by me. Not only is this a beautiful argument, but my R3 is also devastating for his point...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lw64EMSFLfND9KgmsXuqhx63vggSCDx1FelvY6j4ghU/edit
It is a shame that he HAS to win it because I forfeited one round too many... (2 to be exact)

BARNEY'S R5 should not be trusted. They make a claim that they not prove, besides the fact that abortion is murder.
Also, his R4 is also weak, since he doesn't disrpove how exactly one can measure all the variables jointly, he just says it CAN BE by a "skilled" statistic analysist.

A) Who defines "skilled"
B) How in the world can they do that? You cannot!!!

i would vote, but to be honest, this debate gives me more questions than resolutions.

are we talking around the world?
How many people have to not pay/underpay women for it to be a patriarchy?

just from reading this debate i have not gained any knowledge about what a patriarchy is, if its even an established thought or just a rough idea that men treat women unfairly.
from my understanding, women screw over men as much as men screw over women, it just so happens that more men are in charge (at the moment) around the world concerning corporate and wage earning positions.

if you wanna be technical, every type of society struggles with power plays of both matriarchal and patriarchal origins.
my question is, can it be proven to a wide extend as malicious or intentional? this debate doesnt cover that, but i wish it did.

Also, small gripe, but if possible please dont have to have people download pdf's, pay money or create a user to see info. Also some of the links have no reference to where they get their data from.

most of the time people just subtract conduct if you miss 1/3 or less of rounds. but it depends.

NOTE: If we continue this debate and, despite my forfeiture, any of the voters believe I am the winner, feel free to vote for me. However, as it isn't right to forfeit, I consider myself lost, even though I (consider myself to) have better arguments.

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@Decisively_Conservatist

I'll be open to a rematch in the future.

I move in a couple weeks, and am following that with a lot of traveling; so a rematch won't be right away.

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@Barney

And you can win this one

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@Barney

Can I recreate this debate with ONE WEEK TIME FOR EaCH ROUND? I can't keep up, sorry. However, we can just copy paste already existing arguments.

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@Decisively_Conservatist

Your next round is due this morning.

I'll get that round up tonight. Had plans with friends occupy my day.

NOTE: Not only most women are not AS capable as men at being leaders, most women also don't have the desire/will to rise at the top in the first place.

I'll post my next round tomorrow morning.