MYTH: The gender wage gap exists. Women get paid 77 cents to every dollar a man makes for doing the same thing. This discrepancy is explained by sexism/discrimination.

REALITY: Everything about the above statement is false. The gender wage gap has repeatedly been disproven. For starters, there isn’t a gap in wages; according to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, it’s illegal to pay men and women differently for doing the same thing. The actual gap is in overall salary (a salary gap), but upon further investigation, there’s nothing discriminatory about this. Most of the salary gap is explained by men, on average, being more likely to work more hours than women. Other factors that explain men having higher salaries are the fact that men are less likely to be absent, men are more likely to gravitate towards higher paying careers (like Petroleum Engineers, Architects, and Aerospace Engineers), men are more likely to travel for work, men are more likely to ask for a raise, men are more likely to work physically demanding jobs, and men are more likely to work dangerous jobs.

One of the biggest common sense objections to the gender wage gap is that if women get paid less for doing the same thing as men, then why wouldn’t more businesses take advantage of this expense-cutting opportunity?

Numerous studies have disproved the gender wage gap. Details in a 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics report suggest that most of the gender earnings gap is explained by the number of hours worked. This is also confirmed by a BLS survey in 2015. According to the 2015 American Time Use Survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, among full-time workers, men worked an average of 8.2 hours a day compared to women working 7.8 hours. Over time, this significantly adds up.

A 2018 Harvard study also displayed similar results. The 2018 Harvard Study was titled “Why Do Women Earn Less Than Men? Evidence from Bus and Train Operators.” The authors of that study concluded, “the earnings gap can be explained in our setting by the fact that men take 48% fewer unpaid hours off and work 83% more overtime hours per year than women… The gap can be explained entirely by the fact that, while having the same choice sets in the workplace, women and men make different choices.”

Most feminists leave out the fact that single and childless women, in their younger years, tend to make more money than men. In 2008, according to Census Bureau data, single women between the ages 22 and 30, without any children, earned more than their male counterparts in a majority of U.S. cities.

So, the jobs aren’t sexist when females are younger, but then become conveniently sexist through time. This doesn’t make any sense. Sexism can’t explain how women would go from outearning men to then earning less than men. The only explanation is women make different lifestyle and career choices than men. Marriage is one of those voluntary lifestyle choices that contribute to some of the gender earnings gaps. Married women, with children, on average, works fewer hours than married man. It’s personal decisions that contribute to the earnings gap, not discrimination.

Despite numerous studies disproving the gender wage gap, various Democrat politicians still push this myth.

SOURCES

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2019, November 1). Earnings of full-time workers. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-earnings/2018/home.htm

Phelan, J. (2018, December 10). Harvard study: “gender wage gap” explained entirely by work choices of men and women. Foundation for Economic Education. Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://fee.org/articles/harvard-study-gender-pay-gap-explained-entirely-by-work-choices-of-men-and-women/

Equal pay/compensation discrimination. US EEOC. (n.d.). Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://www.eeoc.gov/equal-paycompensation-discrimination#:~:text=The%20Equal%20Pay%20Act%20requires,whether%20jobs%20are%20substantially%20equal.

Perry , M. J. (2017, July 31). There really is no ‘gender wage gap.’ there’s a ‘gender earnings gap … American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/there-really-is-no-gender-wage-gap-there-is-a-gender-earnings-gap-but-paying-women-well-wont-close-that-gap/

Perry , M. J. (2021, October 22). Details in BLS report suggest that the ‘gender earnings gap’ can be … American Enterprise Institute . Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/details-in-bls-report-suggest-that-the-gender-earnings-gap-can-be-explained-by-age-marital-status-children-hours-worked-etc/

Kessler, G. (2021, December 7). The ‘equal pay day’ factoid that women make 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. The Washington Post. Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/02/the-equal-pay-day-factoid-that-women-make-78-cents-for-every-dollar-earned-by-men/

Tobak, S. (2014, May 21). The gender pay gap is a complete myth. CBS News. Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gender-pay-gap-is-a-complete-myth/

Dougherty, C. (2010, September 1). Young, single women earn more than male peers. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704421104575463790770831192

Mechanical Engineer Demographics and Statistics [2022]: Number of Mechanical Engineers in the US. Zippia. (2022, April 18). Retrieved August 10, 2022, from https://www.zippia.com/mechanical-engineer-jobs/demographics/

Lips, K. A. (2016, June 30). New report: Men work longer hours than women. Forbes. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/karinagness/2016/06/30/new-report-men-work-longer-hours-than-women/amp/