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So, The Wage Gap IS True. Only, It’s Men Who Earn Less

The Left is still busily trumpeting the fallacy-filled idea of there being a wage gap in favor of men. In fact, the DNC recently sent out an email once again attempting to promulgate this lie, on the 90th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, no less. Hey, never waste a Crisis ™, real or imagined, and also never waste a chance to totally use women, right, Lefties? Have to keep those women in line! By in line, I, of course, mean completely shrouded in a veil of nanny state neediness and victim-hood. As I said in my post about the 90th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, the woe-is-us “wage gap” myth has been shattered, despite the Left’s attempt to cover up pesky things like facts and figures and such. Math is hard:

CONSAD found that controlling for career interruption and other factors reduced the pay gap from about 20 percent to about 5 percent. Data limitations prevented it from considering many other factors. For example, the data did not permit an examination of total compensation, which would examine health insurance and other benefits, and instead focused solely on wages paid. The data were also limited with respect to work experience, job tenure, and other factors.

The Labor Department’s conclusion was that the gender pay gap was the result of a multitude of factors and that the “raw wage gap should not be used as the basis for [legislative] correction. Indeed, there may be nothing to correct. The differences in raw wages may be almost entirely the result of individual choices being made by both male and female workers.”

What? Individual choice? That’s unheard of. Well, unless the choice is killing an unborn child, natch. Time Magazine is now even admitting the gender wage gap against women is unfounded. And, in fact, that women are presently out-earning men. According to Time, we should think this is super awesome. They even titled the article “At Last, Women On Top“.  (I think that’s supposed to be titillating and edgy):

According to a new analysis of 2,000 communities by a market research company, in 147 out of 150 of the biggest cities in the U.S., the median full-time salaries of young women are 8% higher than those of the guys in their peer group….

Here’s the slightly deflating caveat: this reverse gender gap, as it’s known, applies only to unmarried, childless women under 30 who live in cities. The rest of working women — even those of the same age, but who are married or don’t live in a major metropolitan area — are still on the less scenic side of the wage divide.

Time, while excited about “women being on top”, still whines that it’s not every demographic of women across the board. But,  if it was, why would that be a reason to rejoice? Not content with just reporting something factually, Time Magazine had to editorialize and, in true Lefty fashion, showed their absolute idiocy. National Review sums it up:

As this new research shows, it’s women’s (and men’s) attributes and career choices that determine earnings. Yet there’s something troubling about Time‘s tone, which suggests that we should all be celebrating the idea of women dominating the workplace. To the extent that this trend is driven by men losing jobs and remaining out of work, and young men failing to attain the skills needed to meaningfully contribute to the economy, this is not good news at all.

Of course, we all want women to have the opportunity to compete and succeed in whatever profession they choose. But we want the same to be true for men. Furthermore, given that some women still wish to stay home or reduce their workload in order to spend time raising children, women’s higher earnings may actually be a symptom of hardship: More women are having to work more since the men in their lives can’t provide for the family alone or because they are providing for themselves.

Why would anyone rejoice at the prospect of a reverse wage gap? Why celebrate the sure to continue trend – based on education trends and business trends – of  men earning less? Contrary to the opinion of those who believe that men are the root of all evil and the only thing holding us back from Utopia, it is not a good thing if men are finding it harder to provide for their families. I know. That’s probably my self-loathing and gender traitor-iness talking.

Or maybe it’s reality and common sense talking. No good can come when there are large groups of men who are only under-employable, if employable at all. Nor from mothers who may be forced to work instead of staying home with their children, if they choose to do so.

I’m quite certain that Rosie the Riveter wasn’t meant to permanently replace Roger the Riveter. Well, until the government intervened to “help,” of course.

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cross-posted from NewsReal

COMMENTS

  • http://wadingacross.wordpress.com logus

    … and with good reason. I’m a stay-at-home dad.

    My wife can and does make more than I do. She planned her life a bit better than I did, and she got into a career a bit more lucrative then I did. Good for her.

    And we wanted one of us to stay home with the kids to raise them, instead of sending them to daycare – and working to pay for it.

    Life is choices.

    • ywhyvon1

      By (I hope)l iving within your means and having a stay at home parent.

      Kudos, and you are doing a good thing for your children and society. And, by helping society, you are doubly helping your children.

  • timchgo9

    As a “just-about-unemployable” stay at home dad, I can say there is a wage gap in my home as well. The rejoinder above is what a “career counselor” said I am, based on current employment trends, and demographics and the length of my unemployment (44 months, 1 week, 2 days, 5 hours and 20 minutes) . That pantload of fertilizer from some twenty-something who probably hasn’t even applied for their first car loan yet. Anyway, the wife is far more employable that I am simply because she made better choices, and is a career that pays her well… I stay at home clean house, raise kids, and generally pull my hair out, but it’s far better than having the kids in daycare with limited time with us. I have a burning desire to get back to work but so far, nada….

  • NewTexanDave

    She doesn’t like jobs that require long-hours like mine. She also would rather get paid less but be able to spend more time with kids. Those are personal choices I believe that has a lot to do with the “average wage gap”. In my former company, women actually hold many high level managerial positions but that’s also their personal choices. What’s wrong with people having personal choices?

  • ywhyvon1

    It becomes more and more clear how the left tries to pigeon hole us all(people) and then from there to create divisive ideologies.

    Conservatism is all about the individual. We all find what works for us. We just need to work, whether it be an actual paid position or positions that have big pay offs. Personal responsiblity.

  • http://jakespeaks.wordpress.com/ Jake W

    I’m sure there are some feminists and sympathetic Leftists at my university that would just LOVE to know this. Would run counter to everything they’ve told us. The cognitive dissonance would liek cause rather amusing brain explosions.

    • http://jakespeaks.wordpress.com/ Jake W

      “liek” should be “likely”, but that should be fairly obvious.