Thurow

Although Thurow makes some highly interesting points, one must question where the numbers and statistics stated in his work come from. He never lists a source for his numbers and makes no reference to any studies he may have conducted himself. It may lead one to wonder if perhaps his numbers are as accurate as they appear to be.
Thurow’s claim is that the 60% gap in the difference in pay for men and women is not due entirely to discrimination and rather due to the different life choices men and women make and the effects of these choices. He argues that the ten year strain between ages 25 and 35 are some of the most important when it comes to one’s career and that while men usually spend these years attempting to advance themselves in the work force, women generally choose this time to start families and have children. Whereas men can have children and continue to work as easily as they did before it is not always the same for women. Some women cannot continue to work while pregnant, many take time off after giving birth to recover and care for their infants, and some even choose to be stay at home mothers until their children are older. He believes that it is this loss of time in the work force that causes women to often make less than men.
In support of his claim the author states that women make “more use of the enforcement provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and the courts than minorities” and that the system seems to be working for minorities, so there is no reason why it shouldn’t be working for women as well. If it doesn’t work, then the problem must lie elsewhere. He then goes on to argue that men would have to be “monumentally stupid or irrational” to discriminate against women so much that there is a 60% gap in   income given the fact that they would be essentially discriminating against their own wives as well. He reasons that men know that if they discriminate against women and lower their “own family income” then they will have...