Pay equity complexity
This editorial originally appeared in the New York Daily News. Piggybacking on the outpouring of support for the egregiously underpaid U.S. women’s national soccer team, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio talked big Tuesday about plans to close the pay gap between men and women across the economy. Helpfully, Cuomo even signed a new state bill, one Congress should replicate, banning employers from asking about salary histories, a pernicious way pre-existing pay disparities calcify.
But pay disparities are less the result of outright discrimination than many politicians suggest, and ensuring gender paycheck equity is more complicated than they typically let on.
Women earn 80 cents for every dollar pocketed by men, goes the common refrain. Except that figure glosses over the fact women and men often choose different professions, and that women typically spend more time out of the workforce, usually at home with children. Which is to say, it largely reflects different choices people make — and the broader economic, cultural and personal reasons they make them.
Factor in those variables, and the apples-to-apples gap closes to something like 93 to 95 cents on the dollar. Still a divide, just not as big.
The smartest proposals to equalize paychecks and, more importantly, level the playing field of opportunity are the least likely to make for good stadium chants. They involve teaching young women to negotiate better salaries throughout their careers; attacking child-care costs, which are far too expensive for most families (kudos here to de Blasio, and his pre-K and 3-k programs); encouraging more fathers to stay home with children in the early years, so it’s not mostly women who leave the workforce.
And, finally, honoring whatever choices women and men make, whether that involves being the primary stay-at-home parent, splitting duties or working fulltime.
Yes, pay the U.S. women’s soccer team the same as the men. Don’t pretend that for everyone else it’s as simple as tying a cleat.