International Women's Day!

March 8 is International Women’s Day.  It’s actually the 100^th International Women’s Day.  There are events taking place in many countries around the world to celebrate this.

There are numerous articles in newspapers and on the web about women and how we still have a long way to go to reach equality.  Of course, some parts of the world have a pretty bad record of women’s rights, but there are countries that have made positive changes to improve equality in the sexes.

An interesting statistic is that women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of the food, but earn 10% of the income and own 1% of the property, according to UNICEF.

An often cited fact is that many women still earn less than men for equal work.

What I found surprising is the wage differences in educated men and women.  Though higher levels of education increase earnings for both men and women, at the highest level of education the wage gap between the genders is the largest.

At the jobs I’ve worked since entering a skilled trade, the wages are the same for tradespeople regardless of gender.