(THE HERALD SUN) 9 May 2008:

There are a number of different ways of measuring the gender pay gap: are people getting equal pay for the same jobs, for example. Is there a difference between the average hourly wage for men and women? Is there a difference between the average weekly or monthly wage? Each different measure of calculation will give you a different answer.

The standard Australian method is to look at weekly wages and the female average is $690 a week, the male $1060. Clearly there is a pay gap, but why?

Well, could it be that the average male work week is 38.5 hours and the average female 29?

(SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE) 9 May 2008:

In the general population, men commit suicide about four times as often as women do.

However, among doctors the rates are about equal between men and women and much higher than they are for the general population. There has been some puzzlement about this: doctors are highly paid and well respected, not the sort of things that tend to drive people to taking their own lives.

The explanation now offered is that doctors actually know how to do it swiftly, cleanly, and painlessly. It’s thus not so much that more doctors attempt suicide, but that more succeed. In this scenario, the difference between male and female is thought to be a combination of women being less successful when they try and their not using the more effective but messier and violent methods that men do.

(STAR TRIBUNE) 26 April 2008:

The Marine Corps is traditionally seen as the most macho and male orientated institution in the country. It might surprise some to know that they are actively recruiting women.

The USMC has employed women in support roles since 1918. While it’s true that combat roles are still out of bounds for women in the USMC as they are in the other services, women recruits go through the same basic training as male recruits.

Its also true that the Marines advertised for female recruits back in the 70s, after the end of the draft. What really seems to have changed now is not the role of women, rather, the eagerness with which the Corps is persuing them and perhaps the skill with which they are doing so.

(BBC) 21 April 2008:

The revelation that John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister of England, suffered from bulima (a disease normally thought of as afflicting only women), might make men come forward in talking to their doctors. British men, never the most forthcoming about themselves, have in recent years found that diseases normally though to affect women do affect men as well: for example, breast cancer killed more men last year than testicular cancer did.

The problem is that they feel diffident about talking to their doctors about such things. Further, the doctors themselves aren’t trained to look for these “female” problems in men and finally, all of the treatment is aimed at women (breast cancer clinics are almost universally pink for example).

(NBER) 3 April 2008:

There are two different ways of calculating the cost of a pack of cigarettes. The first is how much money you have to spend on one, say,$5 or $7. The second is how much you have to give up when you smoke one. That’s rather higher, $222 for men and $94 for women.

The costs are so much higher because the calculation includes the lost years of life which smoking (on average) will cause. And the difference between the male and female costs is partly because men are more sensitive to the damage, but mostly because men are likely to earn more, thus those lost years are more costly.

(CNET) 27 March 2008:

It’s always thought that men are the great gadget lovers but it might be that this isn’t actually true.

Looking at the use of Tivos (which allow you to record broadcast TV shows and watch them when you want) it seems that women use them more than men.

The reason is that male TV watching is dominated by sports, something which it is obviously of greater value to watch live. Women’s habits are dominated by half hour and hourly comedies and dramas, something much more amenable to time shifting.

The differences is quite large: for women 56 percent of viewing is time shifted, for men only 42 percent.

(THE ADVOCATE) 26 March 2008:

Thomas Beatie is a normal guy. He and his wife Nancy live in Oregon and are expecting their first child. Except Nancy is not the one carrying the child. Thomas is pregnant.  Thomas is transgender female to male, legally male, and legally married to Nancy. When Thomas had his sex reassignment procedures, he kept his female reproductive organs. Nancy has a hysterectomy and therefore is unable to carry a child for the couple. When the couple decided they wanted a child, Thomas stopped taking his testosterone injections. After four months, his body knew what to do. He was able to get pregnant without the aid of fertility drugs or any additional hormone treatments.  The sperm came from a sperm bank. Many people they’ve encountered are hostile and angry, but they are thrilled that the pregnancy is free from complications and they are expecting a baby girl on July 3.

(LUBBOCK AVALANCHE) 4 March 2008:

A small data point in the changing world of work: In the 1970s, tax assessors offices in Texas were entirely male dominated. The junior secretarial and clerical staff were often women, but the senior assessors (an elected position) were almost entirely male.

However, now, in Lubbock, for example, there are no men in that position at all. The same is nearly true in the surrounding area: 80 percent of the elected senior officials are female.

Take it as an indication that changing the world might take some time: it’s taken an entire generation since the equality at work legislation was first passed for this to happen.

(THE GUARDIAN) 28 January 2008:

One of the age old questions is why the gender pay gap persists. One of the reasons may be apparent in the UK health service. A trend in the past 20 years: A majority of new doctors have been women. This group of first generation female docs is now rising to the top of the profession.

What is being found is that the female consultants treat 20% fewer patients than their male counterparts. It might be to do with working hours, with child care responsibilities, or it might be to do with methods of treatment. It could also have to do with the fact that female doctors actually take the time needed to fully consider the patient in front of them.

Unfortunately, whatever the case, some may use this as yet another excuse to pay female physicians less in the UK.

(ABC NEWS) 17 January 2008:

It’s long been known that men like women to have a decent set of legs on them. Consistently, (and this of course is why we have such things as high heels) women with longer than average legs are rated more attractive than those with average or below. A recent experiment tested just how much long they should be though and the answer was that 5 percent longer than average was considered the best looking, followed by 10 percent longer.

What was surprising was that women consistently stated that men with longer legs were more attractive: this had not been known before. Cynics might say that this is because male scientists haven’t really bothered asking what women do find attractive, something which might explain their dress sense.