If feminists are for equality why do they claim women's 75c to a man's dollar based on a myth?

Question

Seems to me a lot of what feminists claim to be fighting for are based on blatant falsehoods. The "wage gap" being the biggest one:

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/blog/2005/07/wage-gap-myth-is-hazardous-to-mens.htm

A study in the May issue of American Economic Review (2003) had found that the wage gap between men and women was the result of lifestyle choices, not discrimination.

2. Furchtgott-Roth, Diana and Stolba, Christine (1999) - Women's Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America, American Enterprise Institute
3. Belkin, Lisa (2003) - "http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/magazi...
4. Allen, Charlotte (2003, 3 May) - Independent Women's Forum - http://www.iwf.org/articles/article_deta...
5. Washington Post, October 1998 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/pol...
6. Fathers for life - http://www.fathersforlife.org/ussuic.htm
7. Wendy McElroy in Fox News - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,44183,00.html

Why make claims based on myths?

More sources on the wage gap myth:

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba392/
http://www.iwf.org/issues/issues_detail.asp?ArticleID=750
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/21/commentary/everyday/sahadi/index.htm
http://www.npri.org/issues/issues99/i_b040799.htm
http://www.harrysnews.com/tgWageGapMyth.htm
http://inserttitleblog.com/?p=72

Great line in this one:

http://www.glennsacks.com/new_study_finds.htm

"Much of what is taught in Women's Studies panders to us and insults our intelligence. I want to learn the truth about both women and men, the good and the bad. I want all women's voices to be heard, not just those who toe the party line. Do my professors believe that I can't be trusted to think for myself?"

If scrutinised by critical analysis and not just blithely accepted, quite a lot of feminism is based on lies.

AHAHAHAA :)

":-)" You are winner of most ludicrous and ironic reply to any of my questions thus far!!

Congratulations on citing the feminization of poverty myth:

"There is no evidence of systematic over-representation of women among the poor around the world."

www.undp-povertycentre.org/newsletters/WorkingPaper20.pdf

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/roberts/061003

Closer examination of where the feminists are coming up with this data indicates that they are COMPLAINING about the rise of FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS with children, which do suffer greater poverty.

Overall, women are not marginalised here, just (again) FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS with children.

You got a problem with single mothers now... same here.. LOL.

Those sources again:

"There is no evidence of systematic over-representation of women among the poor around the world."

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/newsletters/WorkingPaper20.pdf

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/roberts/061003

Answer 1

Wow. You can tell that Chuck up above me has been in a women's studies class. Apparently, all men making money are using "brute force" to do it. So every man working as a sewage treatment worker, as an electrician fixing a power line, or any other physically dangerous but monetarily rewarding profession, is just a big ole meanie. And women, on the other hand, all their talents are "nurturing," not like those horrible men! Also, there really IS a pay gap because a primary school teacher doesn't get paid as much as a guy working on an oil rig.

Puh-lease.

Risk = reward. Plain and simple. Men do those jobs that you wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. They suffer for it, mentally and physically, but they do it, often because they have a family to support. All so you can post comfortably and smugly on a public forum about how brutish they are.

Feminism is supposedly about "choice." It is women's choices that create this so-called "pay gap." Most women don't want to toil all week, or work a job where there's a decent chance you can be maimed or killed, or forgo having children in order to climb the corporate ladder. If feminism truly is about "choice," then it should also be about accepting the consequences of those choices.

But I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Answer 2

For once I'll agree with you. That figure is a pretty unreliable one. Ask women to quote their source (ask them where they got that statistic) from and most of them will just offer a bewildered "Uh, well, everybody knows that!" There's no definitive proof and I have yet to see any one single institution that offers one particular salary for women and one for men. It doesn't add up. It DOES make sense if, as the article seems to dictate, you consider career choices women make and men make and then just average it all out. But that would be like saying we're ageist because teenagers get part time jobs and college grads get entry-level jobs whereas men in their 50s and 60s have higher positions. It's just apples and oranges.
While I agree that some sexism occurs in regards to wage pay, it's highly isolated. I have yet to see any concrete evidence that pay discrimination is occuring on a wide-scale and with any companies or organizations in particular.

Answer 3

If a woman can do a man's job, then she should earn the same. Women's jobs such as reception, retail, hostessing, cleaning, etc. should be valued more and paid more. The working conditions for single mothers should be better. There needs to be more public housing and subsidized daycare to help low-income families. As for the military, police work and firefighting, if you can take the Boy's club and meet the standards, fine. Otherwise, another area is more suitable and women do not belong on the front line in wars.

Answer 4

The wage-gap is a myth that many feminists have latched onto because it adds fuel to the fire they have been attemtping to spread. The education system currently panders to feminism because it is currently PC to do so...so it's no surprise that the studies they use in "women's studies" classes don't take into account all the facts. That is slowly changing...lesbians make up a relatively high percentage of the current education system, so it's going to take time.

The reasons for this gap, as briefly stated by several posters, shed light on the reality of the situation. I have no problem with equal pay for equal work. Unfortunately for those who are interested in the truth, the concept of equal work is not taken into account where the wage-gap myth is concerned. When it is taken into account, it can be seen that there is no practical difference between what men and women earn WHEN PERFORMING THE SAME JOB! Feminists will turn a blind eye to the lie behind the wage-gap myth as they do many of the other lies that exist behind other feminist issues. Women who are interested in the truth, will not.

Answer 5

You're looking at feminism from the wrong point of view. And regardless of the century, or decade, that women have been fighting for equitable pay, women still make less money than men for comparable worth. Read your studies, and then read other studies. The truth remains the same. Women have always made less money than men, even for comparable worth, just as blacks and hispanics have always made less than white men. Is a woman teaching children and teenagers, or for that matter, older adults, worth less than men working in construction? You tell me. Which is more important? So the supposed "lifestyle choices" you cite, mean simply that men are out using brute force to make a living, and women are nursing the sick and teaching the uneducated. Again, which is more important? And the men making the most money, the CEO's, don't have the "glass ceiling" (I'm assuming you know what that means) that women have to deal with. At least read more sources, or take a course or two in women's studies before you make your judgments about women. And by the way, citing "Fox News" or anything to do with Fox, is not the most reliable way to get information. For God's sake, one of their icons is Ann Coulter. Can you even cite her as a source of good judgment?

Answer 6

Woman need to suck it up. I am so sick of woman saying they want to be treated the same as men, but then complaining when they get exactly what they want. When I say I want to be treated the same as any man I mean it. I can take and throw a punch with the best of them, I've done construction, I play football, I'm just a big tomboy. But when a girl comes up to me and says she wants to be treated like a man, but then complains, because one put her in her place, I get really ticked off.

Answer 7

If it were true, all businesses would only hire women. Lower pay, less money given out.

Answer 8

Oh, my God! Thank you for the data!
Then if you are right the problem is even worst for women!
Since poverty rates are unmistakingly higher for women, where does their money go? Does it mean that women are stolen? I hope you are not right but if you are the, it is not just a discriminatory issue but a criminal issue!

http://www.legalmomentum.org/womeninpoverty2004.pdf

http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2001/mar/wk4/art01.htm

http://www.olin.wustl.edu/macarthur/working%20papers/wp-mclanahan3.htm

http://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/women.html

http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/1999/Sept/wk2/art04.htm

http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/7/christopher-k.html

http://www.nwlc.org/details.cfm?id=376§ion=child+and+family+support

http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/September05/Findings/OlderWomen.htm

Ah, one thing to be added: if risk is to be better paid, I wonder why are minners paid less than chief managers? Is there anybody out there to explain me, pelase? Because maybe I am too slow to get it...