A March Pew study found that women under 30 in 10 U.S. metro areas are earning 102% to 120% of what young men earn.
Don’t expect Sen. Patty Murray, a sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, to seize on this as evidence of discrimination against men. This data undermines her claims that women are systematically paid less. Rather, the data support studies finding that the biggest drivers of pay disparities are the different choices men and women make.
Meta COO and LeanIn.org founder Sheryl Sandberg wrote in Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, “The single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is.” She noted the sacrifices Dave Goldberg, her now-deceased husband, made to support her career and raise their kids. It’s notable that Sandberg offers this guidance to women ahead of other recommendations such as salary negotiation strategies or how to ask for promotions.
When given the choice, many women opt to exit the workforce or work less in order to raise children. Another Pew study found that 94% of adults who reduced their hours or took a lot of time off work to care for children or other family members are glad they did.
While some men, my younger brother included, opt out of the workforce to raise their kids, a 2018 Harvard study revealed how child-rearing responsibilities remain uneven and how this provides far more explanatory power for the wage gap than other theories. Because of its union contract, managerial discretion at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has essentially no impact on decisions around raises, promotions, performance bonuses, or separation, largely eliminating the possibility of discrimination.
The study found that females at the MTBA earn $0.89 to the male-worker dollar and that this can be entirely explained by differences in choices. Married female operators with dependents elect to work about 14% fewer scheduled overtime hours and about 5% fewer unscheduled overtime hours than males with dependents. Single men in the study tend to choose to take care of their children by working more overtime, whereas single women prioritize being with their children. Married men without children are as many as 6 percentage points more likely to take on an overtime opportunity, a difference attributed to intrahousehold dynamics.
These different dynamics were present in Sandberg’s house. Goldberg paid the bills, managed the finances, and was responsible for tech support. Sandberg took care of groceries, the kids’ activities, and birthday parties. She wrote, “I would rather plan a Dora the Explorer party than pay an insurance bill, and … Dave feels the exact opposite.”
Sponsors of the Paycheck Fairness Act ignore all of these differences. Their legislation would allow trial lawyers to sue companies for punitive damages. This increased risk will make employers more hesitant to hire women and burden companies with significant compliance costs. We should celebrate that women in many major cities now earn more than men. Let’s not undo this progress.
Nicholas Kerr works in marketing in the tech industry and writes a blog, The Kerrant, on policy and being a dad.
