Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The Wage Gap the Constitution and the Oscars

Actress Patricia Arquette made some interesting comments during and after the Oscars earlier this week. She blasted the Constitution for ignoring women and she expressed her disgust toward the entire country for a perceived wage gap between men and women.

How about we apply a little Pritical Thinking to the Arquette Rant?

The Perceived Wage Gap Between Men and Women

If women really did make 72% of what men make for the same work, wouldn’t all employers hire women first? After all, it would be much more economical? Basic economics would therefore dictate that the act of hiring only lower paid women would drive the pay rate down for men as well and, therefore, we would arrive at an equilibrium. So there must be more to it than Arquette's politically correct comments implied.

As Peter Schiff recently said on his podcast, “Women do not do the same work for less money. They do different work for less money.”  When women and men with similar experience and educational background do the same job, the wage gap all but disappears. It's called the free market! Could the rate of pay have something to do with lifestyle choices that women make to balance family with their career?

How do you explain women hiring managers, female owners of businesses, and female movie producers? Are they part of the conspiracy to pay women less? 

According to Genevieve Wood from the Daily Signal, "Twenty-something women without children, living in metropolitan areas, earn 8 percent more on average than their male counterparts, according to 2008 Census data. This is not surprising, since they’re better educated than their male counterparts.”

Did You Know - Liberal icon and likely Democratic nominee for President Hillary Clinton’s female Senate staffers were paid on average 27% less than her male staffers!

Did You Know – Different college majors lead to different careers and these varying careers have different pay scales? Of course you did! So when you see more women than men majoring in elementary education and more men than women majoring in engineering, you might be able to explain why, generally speaking, women earn less than men. It isn't because American society discriminates against them, it's because they are paid the going market rate for the job they are performing. 

In fairness to Arquette, she makes her living in Hollywood where male actors do make more, on average, than their female counterparts. Two words explain that: action films! They make more money than chick-flicks! That's life! Old guys can make action films well into their sixties and still draw decently at the box office (see The Expendables).

I do have a solution to the Hollywood problem: the overpaid male actors should give some of their pay to their female counterparts. They should pay their fair share! This is the same advice I would give to rich guys who advocate for higher taxes (i.e. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates). What is stopping them from voluntarily sending more of their income to the U.S. Treasury?

The Constitution

According to Arquette, the Constitution left women out and that explains why there is wage inequality 240 years later. Unfortunately for Arquette, the Constitution is gender-neutral.

Did you know - According to David Azerrad at the Daily Signal, “Women were voting in New Jersey at the time of the Founding! For the first time in recorded history, women voted alongside men in elections”?

Did You Know - the Constitution left voter eligibility up to the states!  

Did You Know - The 19th Amendment, GUARANTEED women the right to vote; it did not GIVE them that right?  “By the time it [the 19th Amendment] was ratified in 1920, more than three-fourths of the states already allowed women to vote in some or all elections.”