That’s exactly the point. Human impact occurs at all points along the statistical distribution. Policy development based entirely on mean or median measures will very likely be inefficient.

The interviews I’m talking about were for an internship and an entry-level data grunt. They were NOT high paying at all. I expect that level of aggression now, in my late 20s, but it was completely uncalled for 7 years ago.

I mean, my story is an anecdote and I have no way of proving that sexism was afoot. It was pretty hard to watch the guys that I tutored snap up great jobs within months though while the few young women peers from my program struggled as I did.

Do you know why that gap is hard to fix? Child-rearing is incredibly difficult, unforgiving, thankless, unpaid work that society doesn’t value due in no small part to the reality that the required skills are denigrated as “feminine”. For a lot of parents, it’s also unstimulating and isolating. Top that off with the (te…

I’m well aware of this but the fact remains that I chose a field based on its reported high employ-ability in national and local job markets and high entry-level earnings that just happens to be a notoriously misogynistic field and applied for hundreds of jobs I was entirely qualified for over 5 years with a callback…

I’m well aware of that. When the gap is decomposed without evaluating the probable magnitude of gender effects on the individual control variables, however, that’s intentionally misleading.

And then the playing field would be equal now wouldn’t it? (Spoiler alert: that’s the goal)

I was 21 when I convocated. I have never broken into the field of economics. I managed to collect enough tangential experience in a completely unrelated field to break out of the administrative hellscape when I was 26.

Perhaps I’ll try that in the future but you can’t fault a 21-year-old woman for not assuming it was necessary.

YES. Even my closest friends (in unrelated fields!) are very secretive with disclosing their compensation packages. I think I almost have one colleague cracked but she’s taken almost a year to break down. It makes it impossible to determine what your work is worth which makes negotiating a raise a ridiculously…

Reliable, yes. Human impact can be lost in statistics, however, and that is where anecdotes hold value.

Did you read the studies cited?

Maybe a start would be to note the family-friendliness and flexibility on the calls for applicants? That might attract more women to give it a go.

I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. The arguments that the wage gap is overstated are predicated on an oversimplification of the model that excludes the effects of gender bias on the control variables. A robust model would investigate residuals on the control variables for gender bias and include those…

Then what do I do when I get a callback and they find I’ve lied, huh? My first name is very feminine. I’ve considered legally changing my name but that’s a hell of a big commitment and potentially hurtful to my family.

I didn’t believe that until several years later.

If I only got interviews for <1% of the jobs I applied for, how is that a reflection of whether I’m “good” enough? If you don’t get a shot, how can you be evaluated?

Anecdotes are valuable for different reasons than statistics. Lived experiences are more-often-than-not masked by statistics but play an important role in evaluating the fit of the model ahead of policy development.

I provide links to journal articles downthread, however, my anecdote is not without value.

There is a financial motherhood penalty but I am glad you did not experience it.