April 27, 2007
In the Dark
I just read a column in the Denver Post written by Diane Carman titled, ‘Why do men earn more? Just because.’ Delving into the pay inequity and disparity between men and women, Ms. Carman quotes a source as saying, “The biggest problem is that we usually don’t know what others are being paid. We’re in the dark.” This problem is not limited to men vs. women, nor confined to corporate America, it’s also found it in the church. More than once my request for salary information on our church staff has been turned down. In one conversation with the Chairman of the Elders I was told such information would not be released because all staff salaries weren’t paid on the same scale. One of the implied reasons for non-disclosure was to avoid the possibility staff comparing their salaries with one another and having hurt feelings. OK, I get it – just because.
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Gail;
-----I used to assume that the reason women were not paid as well as men is because they were not as productive. Recent studies of the physiology of the brain seemed to bear this out in regards to the mental pressures of the office world, and the difference between the physical abilities of the body to perform the fieldwork is obvious. But I was never really comfortable with this short answer, because I have always known a few women with whom I would not wrestle because I know I would get beat. And I have been put in my place intellectually numerous times by ordinarily bright women. The differences, in most all circumstances, are not great enough to matter (I am still waiting for that lady running-back to show up in the NFL.)
-----But the point you present makes good sense. When combined with a point I picked up from the results of a study presented by ABC News, I now understand quite well why women do not make as much as men in the workplace. The study concluded that women simply do not negotiate, whereas a man will. The woman accepts what is offered and goes to work. A man has a nature that must compete, and he will compete for more. Business pays for production, and good competitive acumen on the part of its business people produces better profits. So it seems, with regards to pay, that the lack of competition and this lack of awareness are two effectual differences in the feminine personality.
-----I think that this move to McDonaldize our churches includes a need to feminize them. The church in the last forty years has caved in to pressures toward reflecting the broader social norms. Feminization has become one of those norms. The McDonaldized church no longer thinks that any ideas should have an existence in the presence of those of the clergy, no matter how Scriptural they are. In protection of their own form of “unity” (which is actually better termed as “conspiracy”) ideas are not allowed to compete. And the further from the possibility of holding competitive ideas the mass can be kept, the better. Therefore, the clergy is more comfortable when the mass assembles in the dark for the shining forth of the clergy’s light. With this mass properly humbled, the clergy can draw its chosen salary without risking a breach of their conspired “unity”. Wonderful things are these McDonaldized churches!
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