On April 12, Equal Pay Day, a provocative opinion piece by Carrie L. Lukas with above title appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Carrie represents the Independent Women’s Forum. In general, I like to hear alternative opinions to mine when they are well researched. It was very disappointing that this one did not qualify as such. So I decided to write a letter to the editor.
It was rejected. I became dejected, because the letters that were printed were not as good as mine (my family totally agreed). But then I remembered, I write my own blog. I can post it there! While not as large a circulation as the WSJ (yet), at least my efforts wouldn’t be totally wasted.
Let me know what you think!
Dear Editor,
Why does it take Carrie Lukas almost half her column to actually get to the thesis of her opinion piece, that “There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap”? Simple, because she offers nothing relevant or substantive to say about the subject. Unemployment rates and the purported greater effects of the recession on men do not negate the fact that women doing the same work as men are paid less.
She states that even a “cursory look at the literature” would prove her claim true. Lukas cites the Department of Labor’s differential in the average number of daily hours worked. This fact does not explain the wage gap. Neither is the fact that women and men choose different occupations. Her cursory look at the literature belies how little she understands about the complexity of the subject.
On February 3, the WSJ reported the substantial and widening wage gap between men and women physicians. From 1999 to 2008 the gap went from $3,600 to almost $17,000. Greater than 8,000 physicians of both genders who graduated from New York residency training programs were studied. At the time of graduation and acceptance of their first job offer, after controlling for hours worked, specialties, location, training, and many other variables that Ms. Lukas claims are relevant to compensation, women were compensated significantly less. How could she fail to read this widely reported article? She spent too much time railing against feminists instead of doing her homework.
It is patently absurd to claim that anyone would be “celebrating” equal pay day. It is a sad day that reminds us how much harder our mothers, daughters, and sisters have to work at the same job to reach parity with men. Maybe she should also speak with Lily Ledbetter, for the from a tire plant.
Lukas is correct, however, in that we should commemorate the time that men and women can find satisfying work and be paid fairly no matter their gender. It is only at that juncture, we will celebrate “Equal Pay Day.”
Sincerely,
Linda Brodsky, MD
Co-chair Gender Equity Task Force, American Medical Women’s Association
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