re: Gender gap in White House pay draws scrutiny.

As thomas sowell points out, you can explain away some of the discrepency by looking at what positions women fill. In the case of the white house, our beloved jay carney points out

quote:

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Jay Carney, the president’s press secretary, said the statistics for White House staff members reflect the fact that women fill more lower-level positions than men. But he said that women and men in the same positions at the White House are paid the same, and that many of the women hold senior positions.

“Men and women in equivalent roles here earn equivalent salaries,” Mr. Carney said. “Some of the most senior positions in the White House are filled by women, including national security adviser, homeland security adviser, White House counsel, communications director, senior adviser, deputy chief of staff.”

He said that the 88-cent statistic was misleading because it aggregates the salaries of White House staff members at all levels, including the lowest levels, where women outnumber men.

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I completely buy this. Women are much more likely to be AA than men, and in general those are paid at a lower rate than say cabinet secretary.