Bernie Sanders can't close the gender wage gap, because it's due to choice

The problem with Bernie Sanders' statement is that the gender wage gap is due to the choices women make and is therefore not fixable unless those choices are controlled, which is a ludicrous suggestion. (Screenshot)

Bernie Sanders can't close the gender wage gap, because it's due to choice

By ASHE SCHOW 

At Saturday night's Democratic presidential debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said he would fix the economy in part by closing the gender wage gap. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also brought up "equal pay for equal work," implying that is not currently the case and that there is some unspoken rule in business that women can be paid less.

The problem with this statement is that the gender wage gap is due to the choices women make and is therefore not fixable unless those choices are controlled — which is a ludicrous suggestion.

And it's not even properly called a "wage gap," it is more appropriately called an "earnings gap," because that is the claim that women earn 77 or 78 cents on the dollar compared to men.

Women as a whole earn less than men as a whole because women are more likely to stop working to take care of a baby, to work fewer hours and to go into lower-paying fields. The 77-cent claim doesn't actually compare apples to apples, it compares apples to oranges.The White House has acknowledged that this is the case and the earnings gap does not refer to "equal pay for equal work."

"Seventy-seven cents captures the annual earnings of full-time, full-year women divided by the annual earnings of full-time, full-year men," White House Advisor Betsey Stevenson said. "There are a lot of things that go into that 77-cents figure, there are a lot of things that contribute and no one's trying to say that it's all about discrimination, but I don't think there's a better figure."

Stevenson only acknowledged this disparity after being called out on her claim that the gap was referring to "identical work."

As for lower-paying jobs, one of the comparisons between men and women's earnings is in the social sciences. Yet even this field has different careers that result in different pay. Men tend to gravitate toward economics, which pays more than sociology, the field women gravitate toward.

Further, nine out of 10 of the highest-paying fields are dominated by men, while nine out of 10 of the lowest-paying fields are dominated by women. Men also tend to take more dangerous careers that pay more.So it seems Democrats are just really upset that women aren't making the careers choices that Democrats think they should make. Why do Democrats hate women's choices?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bernie-sanders-cant-close-the-gender-wage-gap-because-its-due-to-choice/article/2578802