The Inter American Development Bank (IADB) has just released a study on salary gaps between the sexes and between different ethic groupings in LatAm and you can read the English language synopsis here (or the Spanish language one here, if you prefer). The conclusion is yet another dose of ‘No shit Sherlock’. Yup, whiteys make more money than those brown coloured people and men make more than women. But the best part of the survey (though admittedly I haven’t studied their methodology) is that the samples are adjusted for education levels, too. This means you’re really looking at like-for-like people and there’s no escaping the racism and sexism that’s part of LatAm society’s fabric.
Here’s the IADB chart for the salary difference between the sexes.
Here’s the IADB chart for the racial differences.
No difference on this chart should be allowed, really, but I’d put my personal tolerance limit at 10%. This means that there are far too many states lined up on the wall of shame over these issues. But the funniest one is that of Brazil, so proud of the fact that there is no racism or sexism in its society. This study calls bullshit on that canard once and for all. The only part of “no racism” that is true is “no talk about racism, please“. The only sexism stems from “she complains and we’ll fire her“.
Finally, you’ll also note that Bolivian women earn more than Bolivian men. If you’ve ever been to the country you’ll know why; those Bolivian women are a real hard-working bunch of people that just get their just desserts.