Progressive feminists have labeled today “Equal Pay Day” and have allied themselves with the White House and Democratic lawmakers. The whole theory of the "gender wage gap" rests on this study by none other than The Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The study claims that, when considering every median income for all full time annual workers, women make 21.7 percent less, or more popularly worded, 78 cents for every dollar a man earns.
But, the Independent Women’s Forum calls both the day and the gap "fictitious":
“Feminist groups and Democratic lawmakers call today Equal Pay Day, a fictitious holiday that’s premised on the notion that the workplace is openly hostile toward women. What’s more it’s a Trojan horse for horrible policy. The statistical difference between women and men’s average earnings isn’t driven by widespread sexism, but largely from different choices men and women make throughout our lives. The Administration and its allies know the wage gap statistic is grossly misleading; in fact, last year the White House conceded the figure is flawed, yet continues to regurgitate it again this year,” said Sabrina Schaeffer, Independent Women’s Forum executive director.
‘If I said 77 cents was equal pay for equal work, then I completely misspoke,’ and apologized, ‘I certainly wouldn’t have meant to say that,” says White House official Betsey Stevenson.
“The White House admitted what IWF has stated all along – that when you control for a number of variables that impact pay – the pay gap shrinks considerably, nearly disappearing.
As Mark Twain said, “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” The 77 percent number is merely an average that compares the salaries of all men and women with full-time jobs but does not compare similar jobs. It does not take into account, for example, that more men choose to be engineers and more women choose to be social workers. It also doesn’t account for women taking time out of the workforce and men putting in longer hours.
The U.S. Department of Labor found that, when educational and career choices factor into the equation, women make 94 percent of men bring home. Childless urban women actually make more than men in all of these major cities. Pew Research also notes that there is a big gender gap in colleges and with college graduates, favoring women.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth notes that The Equal Pay Act of 1963 already requires equal pay for equal work, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act changed Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to allow workers to argue their current compensation stems from discriminatory decisions with no statute of limitations. The proposed Paycheck Fairness Act, which would allow women to sue for unlimited compensatory and punitive damages, did not even pass the 111th Democrat-controlled Congress that Obama.
Employers might think twice about hiring women if they are afraid of getting sued. US News writes that the bill would open businesses up to greater litigation and uncertainty which would be devastating for job creation.
“Some suggest electing a woman president will help make America more fair and will empower more women. They believe passing additional top-down government regulations on businesses like the Paycheck Fairness Act will help women get ahead. They’re wrong. And laws like this will put women’s jobs at risk. Women benefit most when the state’s power is limited, economies are allowed to flourish, cultures are permitted to prosper, and when individuals, their families, and communities are in charge, writes IWF’s Sabrian Schaeffer.
Fun Fact; The Obama White House, and Hillary Clinton’s staff both had some gender wage gap issues in their own places of work.