Letters to the Editor
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@ Calvin Coolidge
Yeah, basically, in perfect capitalism, women would demand higher wages, but as long as there were women willing to work for lower wages than men and higher-wage-demanding women, wages could still remain lower for women on average.
Why would women be more willing to work for lower wages? Two big reasons. One is the classic feminist reason, that women, being socialized to be more submissive, accepting, quiet, demure than men, are less likely to demand higher wages, individually and as a group. The second is that back in the 19th century, those factory owners also wondered why women were willing to work for lower wages, and they discovered: many of them were not the sole providers for their families, so their income was supplementary, and thus, they would take anything they could, including lower pay. It's a mentality issue. Thus, when some women were willing to work for lower wages because they were married and did not depend on that income solely, the women who WERE dependent on that income were competing with the non-dependents, and to get jobs, had to accept lower wages.
This "race to the bottom" scenario is the reason we have minimum wage laws -- you don't allow people to have the choice of accepting work for lower wages, which would depress wages.