Women in the audience for the fourth Democratic debate in South Carolina cheered loudly when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton alluded to the gender wage gap myth.
The first question asked of candidates was what they would make a priority in their first 100 days as president. As Clinton rattled off a list of standard talking points, she included the wage gap, saying she would ensure “equal pay for women’s work,” a play on the claim “equal pay for equal work.”
She can’t say “equal pay for equal work” because that is not what causes the gender wage gap. The wage gap is caused by the different choices men and women make in their careers, including what fields they choose and whether they take time off to raise a family. There is no concrete evidence that discrimination causes any part of the gap, as Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin recently noted.
But saying “equal pay for women’s work” is a new take on the myth. It still ignores the reality that equal pay has been the law since 1963.
But as was evident by the loud applause and cheering from women in the audience, it’s clear that continually spewing an obvious lie — the suggestion that women are being discriminated against and that government can “fix” the problem — is a win for Democrats.
I don’t know how many times fact checkers and journalists and economists and professors will have to debunk this myth for it to actually die.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
