Wage War on the Wage Gap | Teen Ink

Wage War on the Wage Gap

April 25, 2017
By XanderW. SILVER, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
XanderW. SILVER, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it."- Karl Marx


The wage gap isn’t real… or at least not how one thinks it is. Now what I mean by this is that the wage gap, as most perceive it, isn’t actually there in the slightest, or at any rate in the common sense. Here are 3 points that will support my previous bold statement: The opposing thoughts mainly derived from feminists that are generally false and/or made up, why the working statistics can be and are usually wrong, and how the misleading facts are plaguing our society.

Many feminists strongly believe that the workforce is sexist. It is understandable where this is coming from, just decades ago women were discriminated against, but now, things have changed. According to the National Organization for Women, a non-profit establishment built as a force for women and their rights, feminists also tend to say they don’t have as many rights as men, this completely untrue. Women have more rights than men, in fact they have 5 more rights: the right to genital integrity-such as prevention from circumcision at a young age, the right to not be legally required to join the selective services, the right to chose their own parenthood-whereas men are forced to care for their child if the mother decides to keep it, the right to be assumed caregivers of their child, and the right to call unwanted/coerced sex, rape. The rights that women have that men cannot obtain are due to bills, laws, and federal acts, hence one can not find them in the U.S. constitution. Humans have always had trouble finding satisfaction in what they have, if it’s cold they want it warm, if it’s warm they want it cold, the same can be said with women and rights, they want to be equal and be treated the same as men, yet they are not physically built like men, and in the future they will fight to repeal all of the “unfair” acts that treat them as though they are developed like men. These reasons are why we should stop wasting our time marching for something that has already been fixed, and feminists themselves should stop pushing to fasten a strap that has already been secured, but instead work harder at their jobs to get raises and become more successful in their lives.


The biggest problem with this wage gap, is job choice, women will commonly choose heart over money, men tend to be more corrupt therefore means that they are willing to do worse things for the bigger buck, like how businesses will exploit the average american.  No matter what one thinks, the old stereotype of a mom staying at home, to care after the kids, is still around. There are more women out of work than men, this can include homeless and/or women looking for jobs but most of the time it is mother caregivers and “gold diggers”. A study by a national non-profit has found that women also do go to school more than men, but they also have a much higher dropout rate thus leading to a less desirable resume. The ability to work is a key factor, such as in the construction types of jobs, where men are reigning supreme over women due to their average lack of muscle. Without doubt interviews can go in men’s favor, nonetheless when women ask if they can raise the price for how much they work for they can be seen as demanding/needy, whereas when men do they seem bold and confident, likewise there is an opposing argument saying that if there are two women competing for a job in a pool of men, in fact increases both of the women’s chances of getting the job by  50% according to a 2016 article by Linkedin's Richard Rosser, a founder of Payspective, a real-time salary ranking service.


Misleading facts are running around this country like diseased rats, they are so common these days that even mainstream politicians are using them. I’m not referring the the infamous “fake news” but I am talking about how the same man, Donald Trump, who said that has also mislead others, saying that 49 million americans don’t work. Simply saying that 49 million americans don’t work is true, but this also includes the students, seniors, prisoners, and the physically/mentally handicapped. Much like in this case the statistics are deceptive with wage gap. The un-arguable, plain truth of the entire situation is that there is little to no sexism when it comes to this, yes women will experience a different work environment than men, but they will be paid based on their work ethic and skill. Catching an employer in the act of paying based on sex is not only nearly impossible, but to participate in this sort of  practice of discrimination is illegal according to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 established by President John F. Kennedy. In some cases women will be preferred over men for jobs, never the less having a women secretary can be more pleasing to the eye than a male. Another contribution to this myth is the fact that jobs will have a set payment, or a predetermined amount of what they are going to pay for the job before hiring, most the time for budgeting reasons, thereby saying that they lower it merely because the employee is a woman is exorbitant. A Freakonomics interview with Claudia Goldin, a professor of economics at Harvard, went against the typically-feminist view as Claudia stated “Discrimination  just simply cannot explain why women earn so much less than men.” The fact that most billionaires are men also messes with the statistics and proves that there are flaws.


In conclusion, one has to realize that the wage gap is real, but not for a discriminatory purposes, and that there is little to no sexism in the workplace when it comes to wages. With many, highly-educated, and sophisticated people all saying the same thing, it would be illogical to argue, so instead we must all accept this to move on and become a better nation as a whole. When we as a country really reflect on this, we should come to only one conclusion, there would be no wage gap if nobody got paid and everyone shared, then of course, if there was no private property.



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