The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

If We ‘Create Education Better,’ People Might Learn the Wage Gap Is a Myth

Posted on | June 17, 2013 | 14 Comments

Everybody is laughing at Miss Utah, Marissa Powell, for her stumbling answer to a Miss USA pageant question, but no one seems to have pointed out that the question, asked by reality-TV personality NeNe Leakes, was based on a persistent feminist fallacy:

“A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children, women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does it say about society?”

Well, for that matter, I “continue to earn less than” reality-TV stars, but the claim that this says anything “about society” — i.e., the feminist myth that the so-called “wage gap” is a product of sexist discrimination — falls apart under critical scrutiny. In fact, when you control for such factors as time on the job and educational background, so that you’re comparing apples to apples, practically the entire earning differential between men and women disappears. As economist Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute observed last year, “common perceptions of the gender pay gap” are ” vastly exaggerated”:

The fault lies mainly with the press, who irresponsibly assert massive gender pay discrimination that doesn’t truly exist.

As for the now famous answer by Marissa Powell:

You haters can go “create education better” if you want. We’re just going to look at Miss Utah in her bikini.

IYKWIMAITYD.

 


Category: Feminism, Rule 5

Comments

14 Responses to “If We ‘Create Education Better,’ People Might Learn the Wage Gap Is a Myth”

  1. vermontaigne
    June 17th, 2013 @ 3:57 pm

    Me create education better someday.

  2. Susan Valentine
    June 17th, 2013 @ 3:57 pm

    Susan Valentine liked this on Facebook.

  3. Charles
    June 17th, 2013 @ 4:31 pm

    Bear in mind that MSNBC pays Chris Matthews $5m a year while it pays its ratings queen Rachel Maddow only $4m. It gets better?

  4. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 17th, 2013 @ 4:46 pm

    Pat Dollard had a tweet along that line early this morning. So I was raised at least by him.

    And yes, the wage disparity meme is a false meme. But it is hardly an unexpected or unusual “gotcha” question. There are plenty of banal answers a Miss America contestant could give to such a question.

    But Ms. Utah’s answer was awkward. It happens, but you have to accept it was hardly an eloquent response. She fumbled around badly. I would have loved it if she managed to give a substantive response that someone like Michelle Malkin would have given, but the term for that is staircase wit (thinking up a great response after you missed the opportunity to deliver it).

    You also don’t win Ms America by challenging the judges too much (although it you do it gently, with class and poise, you can pull it off). But you also do not win by lame fumbling answers.

  5. Zeb Quinn
    June 17th, 2013 @ 5:40 pm

    When the feministas trot out the old hackneyed saw sbout women earning 70 cents for every dollar a man makes they always ignore this stat: 90% of work-related on-the-job fatalities in the US are men. 90%. In a supposed gender equal society.

  6. Becca Lower
    June 17th, 2013 @ 8:38 pm

    They pay Maddow $4M? That’s crazy.

  7. Charles G. Hill
    June 17th, 2013 @ 9:50 pm

    Writer Caprice Crane said it best: “Miss Utah’s answer should have been, ‘Women make less money than men because women like me are the ones held up as an ideal.'”

  8. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 17th, 2013 @ 10:10 pm

    If you shaved three zeros off both their salaries, they are still both paid too much.

  9. mauser 98
    June 17th, 2013 @ 10:21 pm

    nice tits

  10. Minicapt
    June 18th, 2013 @ 1:05 am

    Miss Crane may have Momma issues.

    Cheers

  11. Becca Lower
    June 18th, 2013 @ 1:08 am

    I bet Matthews would do it for free.

  12. ZION'S TRUMPET » Create Me Some More EduKshun
    June 18th, 2013 @ 8:08 am

    […] If We ‘Create Education Better,’ People Might Learn the Wage Gap Is a Myth […]

  13. Freddy At Night
    June 18th, 2013 @ 9:04 pm

    Carrie Prejean… Greatest awkward pageant moment of all time!

  14. DaveO
    June 18th, 2013 @ 9:33 pm

    Could you post her swimsuit pic? That’s pure genius!
    Read a transcript of her answer. Sounds like Obama when his staff forgets to load the TOTUS.