Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men--And What to Do about It

As a jumping off point I want to say that the comments by previous reviewer William Wentworth suggest to me that he stopped reading the book very early. Wentworth explains away the wage gap as being tied to women working shorter hours and (incorrectly) says that Murphy missed this. In chapters other than the first one, Murphy goes on to analyze that women are paid less because they work fewer hours, but that women work fewer hour because of having more housework and childcare responsibilities. She goes through case studies of women who after having children were pushed toward shorter hours by their employers. We have different expectations for men and women as a society and we tend to push men into roles that are entirely compensated while we push women into roles that are uncompensated. That means men have more money than women. Also as Murphy points out, even at the same number of hours women get paid less, and a partial cause for that is that loosing a bit of experience early on in a career by taking time off or on part-time has repurcussions later. The wage gap is a complex issue, and Murphy is describing it in such a way that an average person without so much background in this area can grasp the situation. She does a good job at hitting many many facets of the problem without oversimplifying. For me the biggest flaw here was that Murphy relies heavily on case studies of the women she interviewed. These demonstrate discrimination that was sometimes subtle and sometimes suprisingly blatant. At the same time, one can always find a case study to prove anything. Murphy has statistics too, but that isn't what she tends to rely on. Another flaw was that Murphy is really pushing her solution to the wage gap. The solution is basically advice to women in the workforce on what each can do. These are geared towards different positions in the company. I'm not saying it's a bad solution. I'm a pessimist and she's really peppy about that solution. It's good advice, but I roll my eyes at the suggestion of a three chapter panacea. This is a very good intuitive approach to the subject. Likely many women should read it (men too, although the subject isn't so close to home). It deals with complex issues, and describes them in an understandable way. These issues are carefully chosen to make a big picture. This is probably the easiest read on this topic that I have found which still had me surprised and thinking.

Smart, provocative, well-researched and wonderfully written, this book is completely persuasive. Anyone interested in fairness in the workplace (something we should all be interested in) will want to read it.

Getting Even exposes the shocking realities behind America's male-female wage gap. The authors prove their case not just with jaw-dropping facts and figures, but with fascinating accounts of how women are shortchanged -- literally and figuratively -- every day on the job. The book also offers a savvy remedy for this entrenched, and often invisible, form of gender bias. The writing is clear and persuasive. Getting Even's lucid argument deserves national debate.

It's hard to believe that companies and individuals can still get away with this extraordinarily misogynist behavior, but Murphy and Graff have done the legwork and the math to prove not only that they do, but how they do it and how we can begin to put an end to it. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who is or loves a woman or girl and believes that women should be treated with basic human decency (and paid that way, too).

"Getting Even" is a provocative book and a must read. Evelyn Murphy has clearly done her homework as evidenced by the abundant data she provides, detailing the many ways in which women in the workplace are losing money. But more important, she provides solutions. (The case study of the State of Minnesota is a great example.) This book belongs on the desk of CEOs and HR managers everywhere.