Saturday, August 22, 2009

Another name-related article that is probably Boomer-centric

Here is a recent article that mentions how women with masculine names are likely to be paid better in certain fields (this article focuses on judges):
http://www.canada.com/life/Girls+names+determine+income+later+life/1916492/story.html

This has also been used as a justification for using unisex or masculine names on girls. Although I'm in the camp that women should not have to hide their feminity in order to bust the glass ceiling, the idea of using a more gender-neutral name to get ahead probably worked...back when the Boomers were the ones entering the workforce. Probably not so much of an effect for the Millennials (the generation now entering the workforce) though. In fact, in some ways Millennial females are better off than their male peers (in which case hiding one's feminity probably doesn't do much good and may even be counterproductive in some ways, and the idea of going by something unisex might actually be a good idea for young men wanting to get ahead in areas where women are now dominating). This article is another example of someone trying to extrapolate what was likely true 30 or 40 years ago and assuming that it would apply today when it doesn't so much.

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