As the author of the article that Rabbi Goldberg and Rabbi Jacobs cite, I want to make some clarifying points. I absolutely agree that broadly speaking, women in all fields are paid less than men, as Rabbi Jacobs points out. When I wrote the piece, I had the U.S. women's soccer team and certain Hollywood actresses in mind, who have recently advocated for the equal pay of men and women. As for Rabbi Jacobs' second point, while it may be that educators across the board are undercompensated, I believe that the inequity between worth and compensation in the field of Orthodox education is greater for women than men. The original version of the article had some anecdotes that specifically point to this gender inequity, but I was asked to take them out by some colleagues to whom I showed the article, because I would not have been able to mention these anecdotes without directly targeting particular shuls.
I have noticed that most of my Israeli colleagues have responded to my article by emphasizing that both men and women educators are underpaid, while most of my American colleagues agree that the main issue here is gender inequity. Of course, this is a "both/and" situation.
Dr. Malka Simkovich
Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies
Catholic Theological Union
