Analyzing the Wage Gap: Is It Truly 77 Cents to a Dollar?

Firstly, as I will likely be a regular journalist of this magazine, I would like to introduce myself. I am of moderate political standing, sharing viewpoints with both liberals and conservatives. I also am a strong advocate for equality of the sexes, an egalitarian. I do not, however, support the modern third-wave feminist movement because I do not believe in the legitimacy of its claim to promote equality of the sexes. Never have I seen discussed amongst feminists the deaths for male suicide versus female suicide being 3.5x higher (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention), the fact that more men are raped than women in the US, the fact that a women can falsely accuse a man of rape and ruin his life, or any other issues of men. Male issues, alongside female issues lie in the realm of egalitarianism, a philosophy that actually promotes equality of the sexes by examining both sides. I do believe that third-wave feminism at the expense of men does have a place, but it is deep in the Middle East, where women are being horribly oppressed and men exercise an unjust power over them, rather than in the U.S. where both genders are disadvantaged and face issues.

The wage gap is currently shrouded in mystery; what was once a legitimate concern to protect the wages of women is now of dubious credibility. The wage gap was first brought to light shortly after the first wave feminist movement, primarily for women’s suffrage, began. At the time, it was undoubtedly an issue, as sexism ran rampant through the workplace and numerical evidence was in unwavering support of the claim. It remained an issue through the second wave feminist movement, the fight against domestication and stereotypical occupation roles, as well as the start of the modern third wave feminist movement.

Upon the passing of the Ledbetter act, signed into effect during 2014, the credibility of the wage gap was thrown into question as statisticians and economists began to analyze the wage gap with greater scrutiny, with an emphasis on exactly how the modern figure of 77 cents to a dollar was calculated. Under the review of a multitude of experts from all backgrounds, the wage gap was found to have a number of flaws in its calculation, which both overgeneralize and fail to account for relevant factors.

Of these flaws, perhaps the most striking is the extreme generalization from which the perpetuated figure is drawn. With extensive searching, I was able to find a figure that bore a resemblance to 77 cents for a dollar between genders, but the figure was representative of the median earnings of men and women working full time jobs. Essentially, the wage-gap is drawn from the earnings of every single full-time employee after they were separated by gender and averaged. The criteria to be counted towards the median wage was so broad, it almost completely nullifies the validity of the wage gap by virtue of overgeneralization.

According to a study by Dr. Randal S. Olson, a data scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Biomedical Informatics, “the four most female dominated majors are health professions (nursing assistant, dental assistant, etc.) [at] 85% female, public administration (social work, public policy, etc.) [at] 82% female, education [at] 79% female and Psychology [at] 77% female.” While these majors are undoubtedly important, it does offer further insight into the alleged “wage gap” by elucidating the fact that women have a tendency to take lower-paying jobs which, when taking the median of all employed workers, will undoubtedly lead to a disparity in pay. STEM majors are below even art majors, with the highest STEM major (biology majors) being at 58% female, the rest below 50% and engineering below 20%. This relatively low presence in STEM results in lower median wages and thus a wage gap that is reflective of career choice rather than misogyny and a “patriarchy”.

Another discredit to the wage gap is that it fails to take into account the hours worked per week, including overtime pay. The broad term “full-time employee” as defined by the IRS refers to any individual working a minimum of 30 hours a week or 130 hours a month. Because the “wage gap” is a measure of total earnings, and not actual wage per hour, it fails to account for a difference in working hours. And, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, full-time employed men work an average of 1.1 hours more than women per day.

The calculation of the wage gap also fails to account for a multitude of other factors relevant to the pay of an employee. Take, for example, the fact that men account for 93% of workplace fatalities, demonstrating that men often take higher risk jobs than women and should justly be payed more. In addition to this, men are also more likely to ask for raises. (According to Linda Babcock, an economist of Carnegie Mellon University.)

So, while there is a gap in the median earnings of men and women, it is reflective not of sexism, but rather of career choices made by women such as choosing a lower-earning major, working fewer hours, asking for fewer raises, and taking safer jobs, among others. For those who have retained their faith in the wage gap in spite of these arguments, consider this: if company owners could truly get away with paying women less than men for the same exact service, why would they hire men at all? Even if all employers were sexist (disproved above, and almost impossible statistically) would they all be willing to spend an extra 30% on employees in order to perpetuate those beliefs? Ultimately, the “wage gap” is misinformation perpetuated by SJWs and the feminist movement in order to solicit sympathy, falsely claim victim status, and blame “the patriarchy”.

*All statistics taken from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics unless otherwise denoted.