The media blasted headlines on Thursday claiming, yet again, that women in America are victims of the patriarchy because men are earning more money. Here’s a small sampling:
“Women May Earn Just 49 Cents on the Dollar”
“Gender pay gap is worse than thought: Study shows women actually earn half the income of men”
“U.S. women earn half the income of men, new study finds”
“The Gender Pay Gap Is Way More F***ed Than You Thought”
The last one is from the always measured and reasonable “Jezebel,” in case you were wondering.
But what these articles are forced to admit is that the study finds the gap is caused by women taking more time off from work than men. Naturally, the feminist crowd cries discrimination while ignoring the fact that so many women choose to take the time off to be with family because not everyone hates babies as much as they do.
The report was compiled by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and titled “Still A Man’s Labor Market,” because of course. The Atlantic article about the report tries to keep the sexism argument alive, but acknowledges six paragraphs in that the earnings gap is entirely due to women making different choices in their lives than men, and not a “wage” gap from discrimination:
“Comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges, women earn close to what men earn: Women in similar workplaces with similar titles and similar credentials make pretty much what their male peers do, whether they are fast-food employees making close to the minimum wage or corporate executives making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.”
The gap in earnings is due to women choosing lower-paying jobs or taking time off from work to care for family members or raise a child, or working fewer hours during the week, as I have been saying for years.
In my last article about this, I explained how the earnings gap — not a wage gap — works:
“Think of it this way: A man and a woman with the same educational background work for the exact same company for the exact same number of years. They’re both paid $20 per hour. The man works 47 hours per week, while the woman works 37. Even though they’re paid the exact same wages, at the end of the week the man will end up earning more because he worked more hours.”
Feminists like to change the argument from greedy, misogynistic corporate employers who pay women less just because to the notion that women aren’t actually in control of their choices and are forced to take time off from work or raise children because of evil male domination.
First, I question why we are basing women’s worth in society on the money the bring home, rather than what they provide to the world (which would include the care they’re giving to family members and children).
Secondly, changing the conversation this way begs an obvious counter question: If women are “forced” to raise the children or care for family members, aren’t men being “forced” to be absent from the family? Wouldn’t the flip side of this argument be that we’re telling men they’re not important to the wellbeing of their family except for the money they provide?
These questions won’t be answered because it’s far easier and more satisfying for lazy “intellectuals” to claim women are oppressed rather than accept that, generally, men and women want different things in life, and the statistics reflect that.