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Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
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Aaron Martin-Colby
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
I'm also wondering if the list is meant to attract some female readers, and unlike males, females don't care about what other females are earning. They care about what they're doing. Men like to take someone's earnings and divide it by Bugatti Veyrons.
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cate3710
08/20/09

@Aaron Martin-Colby: I don't know about you, but I like to divide earnings by Louis Vuitton bags. Sometimes I mix it up and do it by Marc Jacobs instead, just for kicks.
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Aaron Martin-Colby
08/20/09

@cate3710: Go Gucci. Edgier. More expensive, too. After the division, the number is more manageable.
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morninggloria
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
MAYBE they use the "influence" metric because it hasn't been mainstream for women to work for as long as it's been mainstream for men to work and accumulate wealth. And maybe many of the world's wealthiest women are wealthy due to inheritance or the business dealings of their husbands?

These are just guesses. I'm not sure that I know what I'm talking about at all.
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hfree
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
I'm thinking part of the reason why they don't measure pay in this list is because many of the women mentioned, despite being high achievers on their own, earn much of their influence through their husbands. First Lady of the US and Queen of Jordan don't come with paychecks but they are highly influential positions. Michelle Obama and Queen Rania are using their positions to do a lot of good and are highly influential, but on the pay scale they would rank rather low. If salary came into this I think Hollywood actresses would most likely dominate the top ten, and that is not what this list is trying to measure. That being said, I agree that it's weird that only one politician is in the Top 10. Where's HRC?
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hfree
08/20/09

@hfree: Okay in rethinking, they need a money list and an influence list. It would be great to show that money doesn't buy power. (also, politicians don't make all that much. . .)
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alexa
08/20/09

@hfree: But it's FORBES. That would be valid if it were Time, or a non-money focused publication.
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RubyPenelope
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
What drives me crazy is that I still know so many people (mostly baby boomer aged men) who don't believe there is really a wage gap. They think it all boils down to women's choices in choosing lower earning careers, part time work, etc...but the data is clear
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Cunning_Linguist
08/20/09

@RubyPenelope: Can you believe I have this argument with men my own age?! And I'm in my mid-20s. What a bunch of asshats.
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SarahMC
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
Hmph. They measure it in "influence" because our pay does not reflect our true influence. It's almost a way to compensate for the fact that we're not paid fairly, according to our influence.
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Yahtzii
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
Eeeew, I hope that we're not using Twitter as a beacon of influence now. Because then it would be all hail President Ashton Kutcher, with Vice President Perez Hilton pulling the strings. And Russell Brand becomes Secretary of State.

However, I do think that it's an interesting point in the equality debate that even the most influential women have fewer Twitter followers - 75 cents on the dollar to Queen Raina's 600,000 followers on someone like Kutcher's million.
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Edited by Yahtzii at 08/20/09 10:22 AM Yahtzii was starred Yahtzii was unstarred

Maggita
08/20/09

@Yahtzii: Also, sadly, people prefer to read something stupid and inane (Kutcher) over something important and relevant (Rania). Because thinking hurts.
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Yahtzii promoted this comment Edited by Maggita at 08/20/09 10:42 AM Maggita was starred Maggita was unstarred

dummyfakeroller
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
I have so much trouble keeping track of the forbes list. Most powerful, most influential, top earning women, top earning men, top earning celebrities. I generally just say Oprah is at the top of everything and leave it at that.

The wage gap is something that I've yet to experience personally but when I do, I have a much easier argument for the question "Well, why are you a feminist if none of this stuff has ever happened to you?" Because apparently desiring equality, feeling empathatic, wanting justice, both social and criminal, among other reasons just aren't good enough for some people if you don't have numerous accounts that are deemed serious. Yeah, sexual harassment and gender expectation aren't serious at all. -__-
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EarlyGrey
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
I think this has less to do with a wage gap than it does with the history of women in the workforce. I think you'd find that the majority of the world's wealthiest women are not CEOs or world leaders, but heiresses and wives of very rich men. Men have just had a longer time to accrue wealth than women - only in the last 100 years have we even had a chance to earn wealth without any help from fathers and spouses.

I'm actually glad that Forbes did a list of Influential women rather than Wealthiest women because honestly I find powerful women a lot more interesting than women from rich families.
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NefariousNewt
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
How many female writers/editors/executives does Forbes have? That might be a good place to start.
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1.1.1.
08/20/09

@NefariousNewt:

And what are they paid relative to their male counterparts.
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CurtCole
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
I like that they did an article concerning women of power that did not focus primarily on money, but it is silly to market it as if money isn't at the root of a lot of these women's success (along with other significant factors).
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alouette
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
This is really disgusting. All of it is out in the open, blatantly, yet they're not even mentioning it? The hypocrisy, it kills.
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morninggloria
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
"World's Most Influential Women" = "World's Most Magical Vaginas"
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angelheadedhipster
08/20/09

@morninggloria: They're like tiny homes for unicorns!
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morninggloria
08/20/09

@angelheadedhipster: If you read Cosmo, you'd know that the best way to achieve power and influence as a woman is to be really awesome at fucking.
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angelheadedhipster
08/20/09

@morninggloria: I don't have time to read Cosmo...I'm too busy having really INFLUENTIAL sex.
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Kristinkles Ingabogovinanana
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
"So it should come as no surprise that the wage gap costs women anywhere from $700,000 to $2 million over the course of their working life."

This makes me so ANGRY!!! Although my husband and I do comparable work and make similar bank, but that's just because they stiff him for not having a college degree. Yay!
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desertbloom79
08/20/09

In reply to Why Does Forbes Measure Women's Influence, Not Wealth?
Some days Jezebel makes me sad- not Jezebel itself, but the news. I feel like what's the point of fighting such a pervasive problem. It will pass and I'll wake up tomorrow ready to fight the good fight again, but some days it gets to me- you know?
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Zombie Ms. Skittles
08/20/09

@desertbloom79: I do know. When you actually know all the shit and the statistics, it's really easy to psych yourself out and be all "you're just going to fuck me over, so why bother?" about it.
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CurtCole
08/20/09

@desertbloom79: When I take over the department I work in I plan to pay men and women equally. I think it just comes down to time and how we educate future generations. And I agree with LaToya that it would be great to have these issues discussed more in magazines like Forbes instead of staying in the vacuum of feminist publications and websites.
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