Men comprise three-quarters of employment in science, technology, engineering and math, and earn 14 cents more on the dollar than their female colleagues. But that's still better than the overall wage gap of 21 cents, as the Commerce Department pointed out when it released the data yesterday.
The percentage of women in the field, known by the nifty shorthand STEM, hasn't grown in a decade, Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank added, calling the figure "unacceptable."
"We haven't done as well as we could to encourage young people to go into STEM jobs, particularly women, which inhibits American innovation," Blank said. "Closing the gender gap in STEM degrees will boost the number of Americans in STEM jobs, and that will enhance U.S. innovation and sharpen our global competitiveness."
Coincidentally, on the same day that the Commerce Department report was released, BNET (CBS News' business site) published a post with the ragebaiting title, "Male Founders: Want to Kill Your Startup's Chances? Hire a Woman." (It's subsequently been changed to the anodyne "Are Startups Better As Single-Gender Affairs.")
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was written by a woman, Penelope Trunk; for some, the rhetorical power of women recycling gender stereotypes never gets seems to get old. Sample lines: "I was too emotional for these guys. You know what? Most women cry at work. And most guys throw a fit." She concedes that diversity is good for the bottom line but says that doesn't apply to startups: "Early on in a small organization, too much creativity, too many reality checks, and too many ways of getting things done are too stressful to be beneficial." It's certainly a novel formulation of sexism and the assumption that her own experience stands in for all women breaking into male-dominated feels. Now that's innovation.