FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2017

 

STATEMENT

EQUAL PAY DAY

FEMINIST GROUPS, DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS & INDIVIDUALS LIKE SHERYL SANDBERG CONTINUE TO USE FAULTY WAGE-GAP STATISTIC TO TRICK WOMEN

WASHINGTON D.C. – Equal Pay Day, the fictitious holiday that liberal feminists, progressive groups and their allies in Washington created to signify how far into the year women have to work to make up for last year’s wage gap — falls on April 4 this year, a week earlier than years past.  Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) released the following statement from managing director Carrie Lukas:

"Despite data proving otherwise, feminist groups, Democratic lawmakers, and individuals like Sheryl Sandberg, who launched #20PercentCounts retail campaign to offer discounts to women on Equal Pay Day, continue to rely on the faulty wage-gap statistic to trick women into thinking America is overwhelmingly sexist and they are doomed to being consistently shortchanged compared to their male counterparts. 

"The biggest flaw in their Equal Pay Day logic is the assumption that the Department of Labor statistic showing the differences in men and women’s average earnings is evidence of discrimination in the workplace. 

"That’s just not what the statistic tells us. The Department of Labor doesn’t compare two co-workers, one male and one female, but rather simply tallies up the median earnings of all full-time working women and all full-time working men and compares the two.

"In studies that take these and other relevant factors into account, the wage gap shrinks considerably, leaving just a few percentage points unexplained. People can debate why men and women continue to make such different choices about work, and why women end up making choices that lead to lower pay. 

"But understanding how these decisions affect earnings and expected earnings in the future is important information for people — particularly young women — to have as they plan their careers and family life.

"The economy is not a battle between the sexes. And the public should reject the tired logic of the feminist movement that seems intent on denying that women ever make any progress."

Last year IWF released Working for Women: A Modern Agenda for Improving Women's Lives, a report advancing reforms that will empower women and address the challenges they face.

Working for Women has received extensive attention from lawmakers and media. The report presents an economic agenda that would help women and their families and modernize our public policies without growing government. That—not a day dedicated to manufactured feminist grievances—would be something to celebrate.

Working for Women: A Modern Agenda for Improving Women's Lives is available for download HERE

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www.iwf.org

Independent Women's Forum works to improve the lives of Americans by increasing the number of women who value free-markets and personal liberty.