Even a pandemic hasn’t stopped the Left from pushing its misleading Equal Pay Day narrative.
Tuesday is Equal Pay Day, the day that liberal feminists identify as marking how much longer women must work to earn what men did in the previous year. Advocates use this holiday to call for government action and more of a role for the government in employer-employee relations.
This year’s #EqualPayDay falls during a global pandemic — and women are on the front lines of it. They dominate the jobs facing mass layoffs and those that put their lives at risk every day. This crisis has made it clear that we can’t wait a moment longer to close the wage gap. pic.twitter.com/wLOG6EPm2E
— National Women’s Law Center (@nwlc) March 31, 2020
Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg got in on the action:
We need to do better—and we can. It’s time to ensure every American woman is paid fairly. #EqualPayDay https://t.co/XsFKnQyYPM
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) March 31, 2020
CNN is promoting Equal Pay Day without the necessary context and without any mention of the voices that critique how statistics are being misrepresented on this symbolic holiday:
American women must work an extra three months into 2020 to earn the same salary as men did in 2019. https://t.co/DL7gzKAVoz
— CNN (@CNN) March 31, 2020
Of course, we all want women to be paid equally. Women, regardless of their politics, should review the facts about Equal Pay Day.
Equal Pay Day misuses a statistic from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the data, women who were full-time wage and salary workers in 2018 had median weekly earnings that were 81% of what men earned who were full-time wage and salary workers.
But that number does not compare two people in the same job. It just compares overall earnings of women and men. It does not compare two people who have similar hours worked, education, or work in similar industries.
It is time for the Left to stop misusing data to promote its political agenda.
Karin Lips (@klips) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is the founder and president of the Network of enlightened Women, as well as a senior fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum.
