President Obama earned two Pinocchios from the Washington Post this week for using the oft-cited but misleading statistic that women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. The issue is a favorite for U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who gave the high-five heard ‘round the country at this year’s State of the Union address when President Obama brought up the wage gap.
President Obama and Gov. Malloy both spent “Equal Pay Day” — marking the end of the extra 98 days a woman would have to work to make the same amount a man makes in a single year — by talking up women’s issues to their supporters.
But the premise of Equal Pay Day is false. A woman does not have to work an extra 98 days to earn the same amount as a man, all other things being equal. The 23 percent gap comes from a straight reading of census data, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Women are more likely to work fewer hours, to work in industries that pay less, to work part-time and to take time away from their careers for family.
Equal Pay Day is more about politics than economics. The bogus statistics cited by the biggest boosters of this issue have more to do with pandering than equality. It’s a talking point, a simplification of larger societal issues that we avoid talking about because they are complicated, rendering them politically useless.
Suzanne Bates is a writer living in South Windsor with her family. While traveling across the country as an Air Force spouse, she worked for news organizations including the Associated Press, New Hampshire Union Leader and Good Morning America Weekend. She recently completed a research fellowship at the Yankee Institute. Follow her on Twitter @suzebates.
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