Different and unequal

Proponents of the existence of a wage gap argue that women earn 79 cents for every dollar that men earn. They purport that the reason for the gap is differential treatment of women.

As a woman in my early 20s, this concerned me since I would not want to be penalized for factors beyond my control. So I thought it was important to look into it.

Wage-gap analyses are based only on the average median income of each gender, ignoring the employment choices that men and women make. On the whole, women are statistically more likely to major in social sciences in university (although many do not) whereas men are more statistically likely to gravitate toward majors in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), fields that tend to lead to careers with higher pay rates. This is in spite of extensive efforts to recruit more women to STEM. According to Statistics Canada, the median income is around $20,000 higher in the fields that male university students more often focus on.

IQ distribution also plays a role and strongly correlates with success. The average IQ for males and females is similar, and the female average is even a little higher than the male. There are males and females on both the high and low ends of the spectrum, but for males, distribution is more uneven: There are more in the low end and more in the high end and fewer in the middle than for women, whereas, for women, the IQ distribution shows a larger portion of the group tending toward the middle.

Men also put in longer hours at the workplace on average, which is likely influenced in part by childcare roles. A 2007 Statistics Canada study showed that men work an average of 39.5 hours a week whereas women work an average of 33.2 hours. That is a difference of over one hour per business day. Longer hours mean more pay, all else equal.

Maternity leave is another factor. Women in Canada have the right to take up to 17 weeks off for pregnancy leave and up to 61 weeks once the child is born (63 weeks if the pregnancy leave is unused). That is up to 78 weeks per pregnancy, so a woman who has two children can take up to a total of three years off for pregnancy/parental leave. Although not all women take the maximum leave, extended maternity absences still add up to major interruptions when it comes to building up your career and growing your salary. In addition, women tend to work fewer hours once they have children. Men are also offered parental leave but they use it less often.

There are many reasons for the earnings gap that do not include sexism or malice on the part of the employer.

If there was a true benefit in closing the earnings gap, society could encourage male students to apply to less lucrative majors along with encouraging women to go into STEM. Or perhaps government could mandate shorter working days, and require both genders to take equal time off for parental leave.

But fundamentally, the question is whether it is important that the earnings gap be closed. I argue no. Men and women are different, and as a society we should be more accepting and supportive of this fact. While men may tend to be more valuable from a financial perspective, women are more valuable in other areas. Generally, women tend to be more nurturing and, of course, biologically are the ones who get pregnant and breastfeed. They should be the ones to stay home with the children longer, as it plays to women’s strengths. According to a University of Chicago study, long maternity leaves and stay-at-home mothers benefit children, who achieve higher gradepoint averages.

Generally, men tend to be more comfortable with risk-taking; they like to be assertive and see their role as providers. Based on these masculine traits, it would make sense that men may prefer to work longer hours and should continue to do so. While there are individual exceptions and every family needs to decide what works best for it, these biological imperatives should be acknowledged without apology.

Of course, parents should encourage kids of either sex to go into fields in which they are strong and in which they can thrive. But we should accept the choices that men and women freely make — and not make a bogeyman out of a wage gap that results from those choices.

THERE ARE MANY REASONS FOR THE EARNINGS GAP THAT DO NOT INCLUDE SEXISM OR MALICE.