That would be unequal pay, or what Rosin – who sees the 21st century service-oriented economy playing more to women’s strengths – calls “the last artifacts of a vanishing age.”

How are those artifacts doing? Nationally, for every dollar paid to men, working women are getting 77 cents, according to 2011 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Working women in California are doing relatively better, earning 85 cents for every dollar paid to men. But if you think women in the progressive Bay Area are doing the best of all, you’d be wrong.

The four congressional districts where women’s median pay equals or exceeds men’s are in and around Los Angeles, suggesting there’s more equality in the entertainment world than in high tech or finance.

The southern part of Silicon Valley, including San Jose, comes close, with women there making 97 percent of men’s pay. But in another Silicon Valley congressional district, including Santa Clara, Los Altos and Cupertino, women are paid just 73 cents for every dollar made by a man – below the national and state averages, and equivalent to an annual wage gap of $21,000, according to an analysis of the Census Bureau report by the National Partnership for Women Families, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

San Francisco, represented by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, also has a ways to go, with women here making 85 percent of men’s median pay – an annual wage gap of $9,800. Alameda, San Mateo and Marin counties do better than San Francisco. Contra Costa lags, with a wage gap of up to $20,000.

Other studies suggest the gender gap may be smaller – as low as 5 cents on the dollar, according to one produced for the U.S. Labor Department in 2009 – but it’s still there, as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 approaches its 50th anniversary.

Scofflaw watch: It’s that time of year again, when the state Board of Equalization puts out its quarterly list of the top 500 tax delinquents.

Many of the names will be familiar to those keeping tabs on California’s biggest offenders; for example, C JD USA Inc., a shipping firm in Oakland, has owed $16.9 million since at least 2010.

One new name did catch our eye, though: Siebel Systems, co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Thomas Siebel, owes the state $1,371,765 in back taxes, and has a lien placed on the company’s listed headquarters in San Mateo.

One of America’s largest customer relationship management software companies, Siebel Systems was acquired by Oracle for $5.8 billion in 2006, and a Wikipedia entry labels the company “defunct.” Its listed telephone number was disconnected.

So who is actually on the hook for the money, and how far back do the unpaid taxes go? Oracle, when contacted, declined to comment. Oracle continues to market Siebel-branded products, including Siebel CRM Public Sector 8.2.2, released in December.

Siebel, a former Oracle executive, is currently chairman of First Virtual Group, a holding company headquartered in Palo Alto, and of C3 Energy, an enterprise management software company in Redwood City. Calls and e-mails to both companies were not returned on Monday.

Citing confidentiality rules, the Board of Equalization says it could not provide details of the date or dates of the unpaid taxes, but referred me to published information about the tax lien, first dated March 7, 2012.

Are there cases of companies or business owners being cited for unpaid taxes dating back several years? Yes, said board spokesmen.

Going begging: The state of California has $6.1 billion to give away. That’s the amount of unclaimed property it’s collected on behalf of 17 million individuals and organizations, according to the controller’s office.

No, not real estate; these are bank accounts, safety deposit box contents, cashier’s checks, money orders, stocks, mutual funds, CDs, matured insurance policies and more that owners, or their heirs, have forgotten to collect.

They’re being held under California’s Unclaimed Property Law, designed to prevent institutions like banks and insurance companies from pocketing the uncollected money for themselves.

Feeling lucky? Check out the controller’s unclaimed property page at scoweb.sco.ca.gov/UCP.

Back to the table: The California Public Employees’ Retirement System must be feeling luckier than the last time it dabbled heavily in real estate.

CalPERS recently announced a $530 million investment in Chinese real estate funds, despite rumblings of a bubble in that country’s real estate market.

“Income growth and urbanization remain the key themes for growth in China,” said Joe Dear, the pension fund’s chief investment officer. “China’s office and retail sectors offer stable rental income and potential for capital value growth.”

Previous investments in Chinese real estate have done well for CalPERS, earning a 19.2 percent return for the year ending March 31. On the other hand, CalPERS’ real estate investments have taken a shellacking at home, losing almost half their value in 2009 when the U.S. bubble burst.

Not to worry, though.

“We believe foreign investment in the Chinese real estate market will continue to grow over time, notwithstanding near-term challenges and some price volatility along the way,” Moses Song, head of ARA Asset Management, which is handling CalPERS money, told the English-language China Daily last week.

Andrew S. Ross is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: bottomline@sfchronicle.com Blog: www.sfgate.com/columns/bottomline Twitter: @andrewsross Facebook: sfg.ly/doACKM

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bottomline/article/L-A-beats-Bay-Area-on-gender-gap-in-pay-3890940.php