New Study Shows Fallacy of Unequal Pay Between The Sexes. Is It Correct?

For the past few decades we have browbeaten into thinking women make substantially less than men in wages. This past Tuesday was Equal Pay Day, a date claimed by many feminist groups as the day women have to work into the following year to make up what men made in the previous one. Recently, there was a huge lawsuit brought against Walmart by women claiming lesser pay then men for the same jobs which may or may not have merit. But a new story from the Wall Street Journal is turning those notions on their heads.

Using statistics provided by the Department of Labor, a new picture forms that explains exactly why there is a statistical anomaly between men’s and women’s wages. And sexism it isn’t. Feminist groups have gone quiet lately as these new facts skewer their previous claims, especially about a patriarchal hierarchy that keeps women down. Every single woman has a better chance of keeping their jobs than men, whose industries in things like construction and manufacturing are overwhelmingly male and have been decimated over the years. The Bureau of labor Statistics has the unemployment rate at 8.3% for women and 9.3% for men.

We keep hearing that women on average make 77% less than men for equal work. But if we look at the data supplied by the government and labor studies, the idea becomes patently false. First, men on average spend more time at work than women by an average of forty five minutes. If someone works longer, shouldn’t they get more pay? Second, women take jobs based more often on things like flexible work hours, regular hours and other perks that men do not. Men also take jobs that are much more physical and sometimes even dangerous. These jobs will pay more than an office job any day.

The biggest factor comes down to one very simple notion. Men cannot get pregnant. Therefore, men never take paternity leave. If someone is consistently pregnant, they are going to miss a lot of work thus the lesser pay. If we remove all childless women from the statistics and lump them in with the men, we find that women actually make MORE than men; 8% more than men as a matter of fact. This is almost certainly due to the fact that women are more likely to graduate from college and constitute a statistically superiority in certain professions like speech therapists, psychologists, pharmaceutical reps and nursing, all of which pay at least low six figures and have not been affected much by the current economic crisis.

It would be nice if we could stop trying to throw each other under the bus and focus on the fact for most of us out there, the pay is getting lower, working conditions are getting worse, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman because it is going to affect both equally. I don’t think that’s the kind of equality women wanted.