On International Women’s Day, the outrage brigade is out in full force playing the part of the Feminist Evil Queen, trying to figure out “who is the most oppressed of all?”
The Oppression Olympics continue with yet another attempt by the mainstream media to exaggerate the gender wage gap a blame it on discrimination. The Atlantic’s Bourree Lam produced a question-and-answer article today attempting to answer the question of how America can close the gender wage gap. I’ve written (satirically) before that the only true way to close the gap is to control the choices women make, since currently most of the gap is due to choices women (and men) make in their lives.
Lam at least begins to acknowledge this fact when she mentions that it is already illegal to pay men and women differently for the same work. Yet men and women aren’t doing the same work. The article suggests “we should encourage women to take jobs that pay more, and in fields that pay more.”
Absolutely! Stop majoring in Gender Studies only to complain about how there aren’t enough women in science, technology, engineering and math majors and go join a STEM field.
Lam loses credibility after this suggestion, when she claims that women in higher paying jobs still don’t earn as much as men, but ignores the reasons for this. To support the claim, she quotes Harvard Economist Claudia Goldin, who said: “Surprisingly, the differing occupations of men and women explain only 10 to 33 percent of the difference in male and female earnings. The rest is due to differences within occupations, and part of that is due to the observable factors.”
Lam goes on to say that female doctors and lawyers are paid less than their male counterparts. The article ignores Goldin’s reason for this disparity: Different professions within the same occupation.
Not all lawyers or doctors are created equal. A family practice doctor won’t earn as much as a surgeon, and a public defender won’t earn as much as a high-priced attorney. Those pushing dishonest claims about discrimination often ignore these obvious facts.
Instead, Lam moves on to claim that high-paying fields are often hostile environments for women. Forget the women who have made it in these fields, and forget trying to encourage women to get into these fields. It’s much easier to discourage women from entering those fields by telling them that evil, scary men don’t want them there and will treat them like characters in “Mad Men.”
Lam then comes back to reality by acknowledging that women work fewer hours than men (which contributes to the wage gap) and saying that the answer is to encourage women to work more hours. But alas, Lam doesn’t like this suggestion because women do more housework than men, according to some surveys.
The article takes pains to suggest that men may have lied on a survey about how many hours they work, while women may have been truthful. She does not do the same for the surveys showing women do more chores (perhaps women are ignoring the chores men do and overestimating the amount they do, while men are being truthful in that regard).
Lam’s answer to this self-reported disparity is to provide working women with lots of special treatment: Flexible work hours, better maternity leave policies and free childcare.
If a company wants to provide those things, fine. The problem comes when the federal government tries to force companies to do things that will lead to fewer women being hired and for less money. It also reinforces the notion that women are expected to take time off for family while men must continue working — and must work even harder.
I write this from the position that we shouldn’t demonize these choices that men and women make. If someone wants to leave his or her job or work fewer hours to raise children, that should be celebrated, even though that person is contributing to the wage gap.
Lam veers further off course by discussing how men are better at negotiating than women, and suggests salary negotiations be banned. So, instead of working to make women better negotiators, Lam wants to remove the ability of men to negotiate higher salaries (which could in turn be used to help a wife raise a family). That seemingly wouldn’t help men or women.
So how do we actually close the gender wage gap? Women need to stop majoring in low-paying fields, taking time off for family and learn to negotiate better. Or better yet, the outrage brigade could stop complaining about the choices women make, even when those choices lead to less money.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
