Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Yes, women earn less than men – but it’s NOT because they are being discriminated against

Yes, women earn less than men – but it’s NOT because they are being discriminated against

Women earn about 82% as much as males, something the Democratic Party’s new Paycheck Fairness Act seeks to address. But the true cause of the gender wage gap is more complex – and is really a marriage and child care penalty.
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) is the lead person in terms of promoting the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7). It has been passed by the US House of Representatives, by 217 votes to 210. Its fate in the Senate, where it will be debated later this month, is more precarious.

This sort of effort has been a staple ever since 1997 on the part of those who discern sexual discrimination in the labor market. This proposed legislation puts the onus of employers to justify that any pay differentials are based on bona fide job-related factors, forces them to release data on pay to the authorities, increases penalties for violations and sets up a task force to address enforcement of equal pay laws.

What are the pretty much non-controversial facts? That for full-time workers, females earn 82.4% as much as males, leaving a “gap” of some 18%. This divergence has been pretty steady since 2014.

However, opinions diverge – radically – as to the causes of this imbalance. Critics of the free enterprise system perceive sexual discrimination as endemic to these institutional arrangements. Men, in their view, head most corporations and naturally favor fellow members of their gender. This will be news to sociobiologists, and evolutionary psychologists, who see things in quite the reverse order.

What do economists have to say about them thar apples? For the most part, they reject this hypothesis entirely, attributing this gap to divergent choices made by men and women.

For one thing, if productivity between males and females were really equal, and women were paid less than men, this would set up market forces that would tend to reduce this gap to virtually zero. Consider this simple numerical example. Both males and females have exactly equal productivity on the job. Each can produce at the rate of $100 per day. However, while males are paid that amount (wages tend to mirror discounted marginal revenue product, or, in layman’s terms, productivity), females garner only $82 per day, yielding a “gap” of $18. This means that if you hire a woman, you will be able to “exploit” her to the tune of $18, whereas if you take a man on your employment roll, you reap exactly zero in profits.

Is this an equilibrium situation? Would this state of affairs long endure? Of course not. Firms would start offering members of the distaff side $83 to bid them away from their supposed discriminators. They would implicitly think: better for me to earn $17 from employing this woman than for my competitor to do so at the rate of $18. This would give way to bids of $84, $85, etc., and then on to the races, all the way up to $100, assuming little or no transaction costs.

Here is perhaps an even more convincing argument for those whose cup of tea is not pure economic logic.

While married women earn 75.5% as much as married men, never-married females take home 94.2% compared to their never-married male counterparts. Say what? If discrimination is supposed to account for the female-male wage gap, how do we get such strong divergences based on marital status?

Enter the Marital Asymmetry Hypothesis (MAH). This is based upon a foundational economic principle: alternative or opportunity costs. Whenever you do anything, you do it at the expense of not being able to do something else as well, or, in some cases, at all. Yo-Yo Ma is one of the best cellists on the planet, but his time in the 100 meters is nothing to brag about. Usain Bolt (they really ought to give him a speeding ticket) can do the 100 in a little over an astounding nine seconds, but he does this at the cost of not being able to be a world-class cellist.

So, what is it that married women do, compared to married men, that their unmarried sisters do not do, compared to unmarried men? It is simple: they bear a disproportionate share of housekeeping, cooking, cleaning, shopping, childcare, breastfeeding, etc., compared to the never-marrieds, vis a vis to never-married men.

The 75.5% versus 94.2% divergence is something for which the sexual discrimination hypothesis simply cannot account. But this fact is certainly congruent with the MAH. When children enter the picture, these two proportions diverge from each other even more. There is also the fact that married men have a greater attachment to the labor force than their wives. They are more willing to seek promotion and greater responsibility than their partners. Whereas the never-marrieds are more equal in these regards.

Will these facts get aired when the Senate debates this bill? I certainly hope so.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Budapest Central European Fashion Week Kicks Off
U.S. Celebrates Labor Day
Hungarian National Team Captain Scores Epic Goal
×