Enough with the Mythical Wage Gap

With the economy only doing moderately better, yet still in a state of recovery, we have to deal with BS legislation like the Paycheck (Un)fairness Act, which on the surface seem legitimate, but in practice is fundamentally a bad idea.


“The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., (and backed by everyone including President Obama, and Mitt Romney, oh why Mitt, why!?), would require employers to prove that differences in pay are based on qualifications, education and other "bona fides" not related to gender. It also would prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who ask about, discuss or disclose wages in response to a complaint or investigation. And it would subject employers who violate sex discrimination laws liable for either compensatory or punitive damages…”

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., as debate opened Tuesday. "The paycheck fairness act is not just about women, and it is not just about fairness. It is about the economy."

Oh sure, if he means to keep us competing on the global market. Do women really need more privilege in the workplace? Women are already privileged as employees with affirmative action, equal opportunity, less hassle from co-workers and managers for fear of sexual harassment, H/R making the workplace bend to their every whim, the list goes on. Now they will also have another powerful tool for suing companies for not paying them as much as men because they spend too much time social networking, not working because of ladies issues, or just because they were busy doing something else that was their ex’s fault. Think they won’t do it? As the history of harassment lawsuits demonstrates, they will use it regularly because there are a lot of lawyers always looking to fatten their pockets.

Basically if the Paycheck Fairness Act is passed, women will make more than men for equivalent work, because of the penalty imposed for not paying women the same for spending half their time frolicking about and producing less.

Here’s why; often so-called qualifications don’t always reflect how well someone does a job, how valuable they are as an employee, or if their qualifications are even relevant to aspects of the job. Business is about making a profit, always has been, and employers generally don’t care who does it, only that it happens, and they will generally hire the person who can make the most money.

Now let’s think about this, if women really were only making 77 cents for every dollar men made for the same job mind you, performing just the same, do you think employers would hire men? I mean they can save 23 cents on every dollar and turn a profit right there which they could pocket.  Think about it for a second, you know its true. But the reality is this statistic is very misleading because it leaves out certain variables, and misquoted because people tend to add “…for the same job” which it plainly does not state (I only added it above to make a point). When you account for all the variables the gender gap tends to disappear, leaving only personal choice really as the variable that shows disparity (such as what they are going to do day to day on the job). Employers hire men because men work hard and get the job done. Its their job as breadwinners to provide for their families. Women, work less, they spend more time off from work, take lower paying jobs, and a whole heap of reasons more because they are not under the same pressure (even single moms, get government financial aid, alimony, child support etc). Yet employers will have to pay more money for less work because otherwise it all amounts to supposed discrimination. Women will work less than men yet get paid the same. Would a company fire its less productive women? That’s discrimination too, so no, their hands are tied.

Under the new bill, men who perform well will not get raises because there’s a woman with a master’s degree in Women’s Studies, and therefore more qualified, who doesn’t make more than him. He won’t stick around, and neither will the other ambitious, talented male workers who give up in frustration as they realize that they will never get anywhere in the company because they aren’t part of the corporate gender that gets promoted. After they leave what do you think will happen with the companies production levels? As they drop so will wages and women will for real be earning less because companies that are bound by bad law to lower efficiency and productivity will not make enough to give them raises compared to companies where productivity and efficiency is up, namely the companies with mostly male employees.

In the end tax revenue will also decline which hurts the economy, and as is being predicted, in less than 10 years we will be spending double what we earn as a country. Our debt is already higher than it has ever been and with our economy transitioning into a services economy from a manufacturing economy, how do we honestly expect to keep this country afloat?

Now before I finish, do you think companies won’t automatically pay women more for the same job just to keep the government happy and avoid law suits? Women do already earn more, largely because of the resources available to them. And there’s anecdotal evidence that software companies deliberately pay women more than men to prevent lawsuits which is why CNN rated software engineering one of the top female jobs. It’s so friendly in fact because normally tech jobs were beyond the scope of a female, yet that didn’t stop the government from presuming that the lack of female employees was due only to discrimination, so now the companies are working every so hard to hire women and keep them there. Another privilege enjoyed by women in the workforce. Think a man would be treated the same in a female dominated career field?

Additionally, as a member of the military I can personally attest to the fact that women don't work as hard as men and yet still get paid the same. On top of that they are more likely to get good evaluations, more likely to be considered for promotions because of that aspect and quotas needing to be filled, and more likely to be given opportunity for training and education. They have more privilege, such as what I previously listed as well as being able to file any kind of harassment suit without fear of reprisal and without scrutiny. You ever wonder why so few men report harassment? Because rarely if ever are they taken seriously, nor are they ever believed if a woman the labeled perpetrator. He is then labeled as a pussy, and every ounce of manhood he once had is systematically stripped away, leaving him an empty husk. But enough about that. More about how the United States Military is turning into a program equivalent of the Girl Scouts in another post.

This act is clearly addressing a non-resistant problem, and seeks solutions that will only create more problems. It’s clear to me that Obama like his sudden urge to support gay marriage, is simply trying to gather votes for the up and coming election, and what better way than to appeal to the majority, namely women, who make up 54% of the vote (last I checked). It’s all good and well to try and gain favor from the people, but legislation like this, will only hurt everyone in the long run. Is there something he can do instead that doesn’t mean he has to bargain against human stupidity?