Logical Fallacies of the Gender-Wage Gap

It has recently come to my attention that many government officials at the national level, as well as those representing various states, are pushing for additional regulations to address the issue of gender-wage disparity.  Perhaps the most prominent figure, President Obama, was keen to advocate for the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act in his State of the Union address.  I would like to take a few moments to point out why such action is not necessary.

            First of all, the often cited “77 cents on the dollar” figure is accurate, but it is frequently presented in a very misleading fashion.  The figure is calculated by taking the median wage of all women compared to the median wage of all men.  This statistic does not account for differences in career choices (for example, women are more likely than men to choose to become school teachers and less likely than men to choose to become engineers), differences in employment choices (women are more likely than men to choose to work part time), or differences in work hiatuses (women are more likely than men to suspend their careers when their children are young).  If we control for these factors, the gender wage gap disappears almost entirely. For example, full-time female engineers tend to earn the same as full-time male engineers who have the same years of experience. Full-time female school teachers tend to earn the same as full-time male school teachers who have the same years of experience, the same educations, and specialize in the same disciplines. 

Women sometimes make life choices in which they consciously choose a greater quality of life for themselves or for their children in exchange for lesser income. The data suggest that men who make those same life choices also earn less. The difference is that women are more likely to make these choices than men.  Many women decide to raise children, creating gaps in employment, or work less hours during the week to spend more time at home.  These differences have nothing to do with wage discrimination – only a perfectly reasonable work-life/home-life tradeoff.  As a society we must ask ourselves whether or not women are steered into these life choices, but the potential societal problem is a separate issue with very different solutions.

The data suggest that there is one way to close the “gender-wage gap.” That is to convince women and men that they are making the wrong decisions for themselves and their children – that women need to focus more on their careers and men need to focus less on their careers. But is it the government’s place to tell women for what jobs they should train, and in what way to balance their home life and work life?  Many of us would not appreciate our own parents dictating to us on these matters - let alone politicians.  If women find more satisfaction in trading a career that is rewarding to them for lower wages or taking less hours to spend more time at home, they should be allowed to do so without being ridiculed for not making the same wages as men.   

Those who rally support for bills like the Paycheck Fairness Act or various other state bills by misrepresenting income statistics are doing the public a great disservice.  Politicians must stop misrepresenting data to gain political points – particularly when doing so causes people to second guess hard personal choices they make for themselves and their families.