Two female celebrities in recent weeks have made the headlines (and been hailed as heroes) for actions that may actually set women back.
The first headline-generating celebrity was “Harry Potter” actress Emma Watson, who announced last week that she is taking a year off acting to focus on feminism. Watson hasn’t starred in anything major since the “Harry Potter” series concluded in 2011, so her announcement seems less like a selfless move and more like a cry for attention before she fades into obscurity.
Taking a break from acting is a perfectly acceptable choice; taking that time off to focus on feminism seems counterproductive. As at least one person noted on Twitter, Watson would do more for the advancement of women if she took a year off to get a degree in engineering.
You see, Watson’s choice to leave her main source of income and focus on something that will most likely not earn her millions of dollars, is the reason there’s a gender wage gap in this country. Feminists like to insinuate that the gap is due to discrimination, but it’s not. The gap is mostly due to women making the choice to focus on family or select careers that don’t pay as well as the careers men choose.
For evidence of this, note that nine of the top 10 highest-paying fields are dominated by men, while nine of the top 10 lowest-paying fields are dominated by women. Those pushing the gender-wage gap claim that society pushes women into these lower paying jobs, exposing their own dim view of women’s intelligence. If women want to choose careers they love but that don’t pay as much as the careers men choose, they shouldn’t be accused of being too dumb to make their own choices or choose what’s best for them.
Watson is now contributing to the wage gap. Unless she’s going to spend her year giving hundreds of speeches about feminism at Hillary Clinton prices, she’s not going to earn as much as she did when she was acting. And that’s fine by me, because she’s doing something she’s passionate about. But she is also perfectly illustrating — and being cheered for — something feminists appear to be against.
If feminists truly wanted to close the wage gap, they’d join careers in engineering or technology, rather than complaining about how women don’t join careers in engineering or technology.
The other female celebrity being praised recently is recording artist Kesha, aka Kesha Rose Sebert. Kesha is being labeled a brave survivor for accusing her producer of sexual assault as she tries to get out of a contract with him. Last week, a female New York Supreme Court justice denied her request for a preliminary injunction that would allow her to get out of her contract.
Let’s ignore for a moment whether or not Kesha actually was sexually assaulted, even though in the past she said under oath that he “never made sexual advances” toward her. Many celebrities and of course the “believe the accuser” media have accepted that she is a victim simply because she said so. And perhaps she is.
But as for the injunction, allowing her evidence-less claims to reward her out of a contract could have had dangerous consequences for women in the future. When people are given the opportunity to exploit something, they will, and women are not saints free from this temptation.
Allowing the injunction just because she said she was raped and without providing any evidence that she was would have ramifications for future contracts with women. It would have sent the message that any woman could get out of any kind of contract (or anything, really) just by claiming rape. Those of us watching the sexual assault hysteria on college campuses already know this to be the case, but this would have sent a signal to the broader population.
And if that were to happen, how could anyone trust entering into a contract with a woman? Men are already wary of mentoring young women in the workplace and don’t want to have closed-door meetings because of a fear the woman will claim sexual harassment. Again, feminists claim this is discrimination, but when nearly everyone has heard a horror story about a supervisor being accused by an angry ex-employee or attention-seeker, the fear spreads.
By finding sexism in everything, feminists have set women back in this regard. Neither Kesha nor Watson set out to harm women, but the results of their actions would have done just that.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
