The liberal narrative goes something like this: Women make only 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man, resulting in a ‘gender wage gap’ of around 20 percent.
It’s sounds horrible, of course, as if companies were purposefully paying women less simply because, well, they are women. Given the obvious economic fact that if this indeed were the case (and if it were even legal) any company worth its salt would hire EVERY woman with a pulse first because of the mass cost savings involved, thus resulting in a zero unemployment rate for women, the premise is ridiculous on its face.
So what’s the real reason? After quoting the alarming 20 percent statistic at the top of this piece, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research later goes into, surprisingly, some solid reasons for the gender wage gap:
“Reasons for the gender wage gap are multi-faceted. IWPR’s research shows that, irrespective of the level of qualification, jobs predominantly done by women pay less on average than jobs predominantly done by men. Women have made tremendous strides during the last few decades by moving into jobs and occupations previously done almost exclusively by men, yet during the last two decades there has been very little further progress in the gender integration of work. In some industries and occupations, like construction, there has been no progress in forty years. This persistent occupational segregation is a primary contributor to the lack of significant progress in closing the wage gap.”
On average, women are interested in different things than men, and different occupations pay different rates based on market factors like supply and demand. Shocker, I know. Since the market, half of which is composed of women, determines what occupations pay, feminists can’t really pin this on the patriarchy, try as they might. So good luck getting more women in “construction,” but there’s one field women enjoy just as much as men do, and the highest paid person in this field – acting – happens to be a Latina woman.
And it’s not even close.
According to Forbes, for the second year in a row the highest paid actor or actress on television is Sofia Vergara. Not only did Vergara slide in at the number one slot, she made $14 million more than the highest ranking male, Big Bang Theory actor Jim Parsons.
In addition to her acting work as Modern Family’s Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Forbes credits Vergara’s success to a “business-first mentality” that includes “licensing deals with Rooms To Go, Avon and SharkNinja, and endorsements for Pepsi, CoverGirl and Head & Shoulders.”
Vergara’s haul for 2017? A cool $41.5 million.
Take that, patriarchy.
The Modern Family star isn’t an outlier either. Forbes reports that “actresses were quite well-dispersed throughout” the list, including Kaley Cuoco in the 4th spot at $26 million and Mindy Kaling and Ellen Pompeo tied at 9th with $13 million apiece.
“Because television stars often negotiate as a cast, men and women tend to earn the same amount: For example, all Big Bang Theory stars took home $1 million per episode last season,” Forbes reports.
In other words, there isn’t a separate, secret contract where studios get the 20 percent blue-light special for females.
Forbes does report a “pay disparity” of sorts because “there are fewer star roles for women on television,” but again that’s really up to the market to sort out.
And if it doesn’t, does it really matter in the long run?
Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BizPac Review.
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