I was reading Vanderbilt’s e-Newsletter, the .Commodore (GET IT? DOT COMMODORE?), which chronicles the awesomeness and brilliance and superior mindedry of the Vanderbilt community, when one article in particular caught my eye:
“Women’s and Men’s Earnings Hurt by Housework.”
Hmmm, I thought. Very interesting.
It starts out:
“New research by Vanderbilt professor of law and economics Joni Hersch found that housework not only reduces the salaries of women, but also affects some men’s wages. She also found that women’s salaries are negatively impacted by housework regardless of profession.”
"Hersch found that each extra hour spent on daily housework reduced average wages by about 24 cents per hour for women and about 21 cents per hour for men."
Doesn't explain how.
Doesn't explain why.
I hate to make you read the whole article, but COULD YOU PLEASE?Because it’s alarming how much sense it doesn’t make.
It seems to say that housework actually causes men and women to earn less money. And I suppose this would be true if I were not showing up to work every day because I'd opted to stay home and bleach my toilet bowls. But how in the world does more housework in and of itself CAUSE a decrease in salary? Surely the reporter misinterpreted the study.
Just to see, I downloaded the 39-pager to see if that would shed any light on the matter.
In her introduction, Hersch explains:
“There is considerable evidence that time spent on routine housework has a negative relation with wages that is not spuriously due to endogeneity or unobserved individual fixed characteristics, with the impact greatest for women’s wages.”
And then my brain exploded, leaving little bits of spurious endogeneities and fixed characteristics (though you can’t observe them) all over the walls and carpet.
And I still don’t know. Should I clean them up … or leave them there and hope it’s reflected in my next paycheck?
“Women’s and Men’s Earnings Hurt by Housework.”
Hmmm, I thought. Very interesting.
It starts out:
“New research by Vanderbilt professor of law and economics Joni Hersch found that housework not only reduces the salaries of women, but also affects some men’s wages. She also found that women’s salaries are negatively impacted by housework regardless of profession.”
"Hersch found that each extra hour spent on daily housework reduced average wages by about 24 cents per hour for women and about 21 cents per hour for men."
Doesn't explain how.
Doesn't explain why.
I hate to make you read the whole article, but COULD YOU PLEASE?Because it’s alarming how much sense it doesn’t make.
It seems to say that housework actually causes men and women to earn less money. And I suppose this would be true if I were not showing up to work every day because I'd opted to stay home and bleach my toilet bowls. But how in the world does more housework in and of itself CAUSE a decrease in salary? Surely the reporter misinterpreted the study.
Just to see, I downloaded the 39-pager to see if that would shed any light on the matter.
In her introduction, Hersch explains:
“There is considerable evidence that time spent on routine housework has a negative relation with wages that is not spuriously due to endogeneity or unobserved individual fixed characteristics, with the impact greatest for women’s wages.”
And then my brain exploded, leaving little bits of spurious endogeneities and fixed characteristics (though you can’t observe them) all over the walls and carpet.
And I still don’t know. Should I clean them up … or leave them there and hope it’s reflected in my next paycheck?
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