WASHINGTON, April 16 (UPI) -- Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly wrote an op-ed in the Christian Post saying if women are paid as much as men, they will not be able to find husbands.
A week after Republicans blocked an effort in the Senate to vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, Schlafy, an opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment, wrote Tuesday that it would only make finding a "suitable mate" harder.
Another fact is the influence of hypergamy, which means that women typically choose a mate (husband or boyfriend) who earns more than she does. Men don't have the same preference for a higher-earning mate.
While women prefer to HAVE a higher-earning partner, men generally prefer to BE the higher-earning partner in a relationship. This simple but profound difference between the sexes has powerful consequences for the so-called pay gap.
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Suppose the pay gap between men and women were magically eliminated. If that happened, simple arithmetic suggests that half of women would be unable to find what they regard as a suitable mate.
Schlafly claims women do not deserve equal pay because they do not work as often as men and choose college majors that tend to pay less in the labor market. She also claims women's choices also put them in nicer workplaces with flexible hours, which makes up for equal pay.
She bases her statements on statistics showing the generation with the smallest pay gap also marries later in life.
In two segments of our population, the pay gap has virtually ceased to exist. In the African-American community and in the millennial generation (ages 18 to 32), women earn about the same as men, if not more.
It just so happens that those are the two segments of our population in which the rate of marriage has fallen the most. Fifty years ago, about 80 percent of Americans were married by age 30; today, less than 50 percent are
The Obama administration states that women make only 77 cents to the dollar of a man in the same position. Taking under consideration factors like maternity leave and certain other workplace conditions, women still only make about 91 cents to the dollar of a man in the same position.
[HuffPost Live] [The Christian Post]
