The Gender Pay Gap is not as it seems; for it is not ‘women being paid less than men’, but rather, ‘mothers being paid less than fathers’.

Let’s look at the data –

Single American women, without children, are paid 0.8% less than single American men without children.

But compare American women who are married with children, against American men who are married with children – and suddenly a giant gap of 35% opens up.

‘Children’.

This is a critical piece of information that is frequently missing, drowned out by yells of “misogyny” and screams of discrimination, within what is probably the most hotly contested issue within gender equality discourse.

Look past the cult of outrage, and see the truth.

The reality, is that what we’re really talking about is a ‘child penalty’, that is usually paid by mothers – and, more controversial again – this is a penalty many such women choose to pay, as it allows them to spend more time with their children.

This is a trade off more fathers would choose too, if they could, as part-time parenting, part-time work, remains the ‘ideal choice’ for the majority of both men and women.

So let’s talk about what is actually inside the pay gap.

Because whatever your position on children, we can agree, when it comes to ‘the gender pay gap’, we are looking and yelling at the wrong thing.

Similarly, when it comes to closing it, perhaps the real reason why nothing is changing, is because we fundamentally misunderstand what is inside the gap.

With many exploiting the issue for their own personal agenda, or as Charles E James, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor puts it –

‘The raw wage gap continues to be used in misleading ways to advance public policy agendas without fully explaining the reasons behind the gap.’

Because no, women are not paid less than men.

But mothers are.

And the way we close it? Give equal parental leave to fathers.

What do you think?

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Listen to the full episode at @instaoffbeat

Sources:
The Economist, Motherhood Penalty tinyurl.com/d8m9m9xw
US Census Bureau tinyurl.com/36ccn4k7D
Denmark Study tinyurl.com/yxyre4b9

#paygap #genderpaygap #equalpay #parentlife

2024-03-17