Gender equality, income and the media in Finland are connected in a particular way which will be uncovered in this blog post.
Lies, damned lies and statistics
In Finland, the general perception is that women earn less than men for the exact same jobs. The population has gotten this view from the popular media and it is used as a political argument for supporting women in the expense of men to balance the injustice, whether through research funds that employ mostly women or by suggested laws that would enforce publicly listed corporations to have a quota of females in their boards of directors (seriously).
Several years ago the similar political agenda was morally boosted by news that reported that women are less accident-prone as drivers and thus safer for all of us who leave our homes. What this and the reported income inequality have in common is that they are false, the evidence is easily available and most journalists choose to ignore it.
The devil in the details
The statistical truth about the income is that women earn 102 % of what men do per hour for the same job. Or 104 % or 94 % in alternative ways of calculating overtime and taxes. While men earn on average more per month in the same jobs, they also work more hours. And pay more taxes, which explains a part of why women pay for only 45 % of public health and elderly care expenses while using 59 %. These are reported in only one article while thousands and thousands of printed and online words have been used to spread the perception that women earn less – while not mentioning they also work less.
Women earn approximately the same per hour of work even when the amount of housework is factored in. On average men who live in a relationship do 8.5 more hours of work and housework combined than women in a relationship. Not annually, not monthly but each and every week.
The statistical fact about driving, accidents and gender is that female drivers have less accidents in Finland in a given time, but that’s because they drive less. Compared to accidents per distance driven, men are safer. One corrective article has pointed this out while a horde of journalists were repeating the original misleading one that said women are safer drivers.
Not just statistics
Let’s forget the above for a moment and believe that women would earn less for the same job than men. This would be cause for a change in the system only if it would be caused by the system and fixable by the system. Is it?
No. Research says that women are more shy about their desired salaries. When asked for the reasoning for their requested salary in a job interview, men are more likely to look the interviewer in the eye and argue credibly why their abilities, experience and education correspond to the desired salary. Women often get scared of the topic and start to back down on their request.
There’s also another reason why men might rightfully earn more with the same job description. Men generally aim for a higher income and status in their careers because women prefer wealthy high-status men. There are likely more men than women with any given job description who try to do so good work that they will one day get promoted. Before the promotion they might have already been able to get a raise while the job description has stayed the same.
If on average women start with a smaller salary than men, don’t work as hard and still end up getting the same, are men more effective with the same salary as women in Finland? You will see an update here as soon as a researcher dares to attempt to tackle that question.
The conclusion
There’s a self-feeding cycle of media feminism in Finland. Feminists make news by interpreting statistics in a misleading way. The journalists make sloppy work and repeat the message without inspecting it critically. The audience consumes the message and becomes illusioned in feminist propanda. As this goes on journalists have a harder and harder time inspecting future feminist messages critically as the audience wants to read what they already believe – the feminist message where women are victims and thus need to be compensated by the society (read: men).
Sources
Paavo Arhinmäki, Minister of Culture and Sport: Sukupuolikiintiöt pörssiyhtiöiden hallituksiin (in Finnish)
Taloussanomat: Miehet tekevät enemmän töitä kuin naiset (in Finnish)
Oikotie » Työntekijälle: Realistinen palkkatoive tekee vaikutuksen (in Finnish)
More sources will be added per reader suggestions. Comments of how the situation is in other countries are welcome.
