Women In The Workplace

Today I heard an audio clip of Barack Obama who said this before a cheering crowd: “When women still make just 77 cents for every dollar men make - black and Latina women even less - that doesn't just hurt women, it hurts families who find themselves with less income, and have to work even harder just to get by.” That statement made me very angry because it is deceptive, disingenuous, and just plain wrong on many levels.

First off, I would like to know, why do liberals confuse level of income, with the level of meaning in their lives? Next, I would like to know, why do liberal crowds always cheer when they are told that America is an unfair, mean place? Also, why are liberals always trying to achieve equality of outcomes, regardless of peoples choices and behaviors? But most importantly, I would like to discuss why Obama's statement is deceptive and disingenuous.

Obama's statement is deceptive for several reasons. That particular statistic does not compare women who work at the same type of jobs as the men that they are compared with. When you compare equal jobs, the disparity shrinks. When you include equal experience, it shrinks even more. That statistic also does not compare women who work the same number of hours as men. When you compensate for hours worked, the disparity shrinks even more. On average, women work 200 hours less per year when compared with men.

Many would say, women are discriminated against and forced to take lower paid jobs, such as receptionist or waitress. They claim that discrimination keeps women from holding high paying jobs because of a glass ceiling. Fortunately, in the US we are still given a free choice of what occupations we choose to peruse and we are also free to choose among a variety hours and times required to work at various jobs. It just so happens that women on average, choose to work at jobs that do not require as many hours to be worked annually. It is very deceptive and disingenuous to leave this fact out when quoting that statistic, yet I hear liberals constantly using that statistic unchallenged.

Another thing that Obama conveniently left out of his comment was that women, have similar, if not better education than men. Nobody is denying the fact that women have equal or better opportunities and higher education than men on average. Currently women make up 55% of all college enrollments. However, often women have more education but less experience than the males at the same jobs.

On jobs that I have held, I have always noticed that when there is a job opening, the manager always has a hard time finding a good person to fill the slot. As an auto mechanic, I worked on commission. The manager is always looking for someone who can work fast and with a minimum of mistakes or accidents. He is looking for someone who can get the most work done. Most managers would be looking for these qualities. But in commission work, they want to find the person that will make the most money for himself, because that person will be earning the most money for the company and keeping its customers happy. Since the customer never sees the mechanic it doesn't matter what he/she looks like, what race they are, what sex they are or how good their communication skills are. The manager is desperately looking for someone who can fix cars right the first time, and get it done quickly and safely.

I have worked in many repair shops and auto dealerships, but I have never worked alongside a female mechanic. However, women did work as service-writers, cashiers, in the parts department, in office jobs, and even as service managers. Out of all those job categories, the mechanics usually earned the most money (save some service managers). Do you think that auto dealerships discriminated against women by not allowing them to work as mechanics? I do not. I think that very few women choose to do the dirty, sweaty work required as an auto mechanic. Also, I think as a whole, women's innate talents, and desires do not lie in this area. Of course there are exceptions. And I have heard stories about very competent and happy women mechanics, but on the whole, women are not auto-mechanics because they choose not to work as auto mechanics, not because they are being discriminated against or relegated to lower positions at the auto dealerships. The free market determines how much each job category will pay depending upon how much money qualified and trained people are willing to do the work for, and the amount of supply viruses demand in the employment market.

Is it possible that many women choose not to work as many hours as men because they would rather have more time to spend raising their children, or doing other things? I believe that most women have an innate tendency toward child rearing, while most men have an innate tendency to be more competitive in their career. Most divorcées, and family courts also believe in this these innate tendencies. In most divorce settlements, the woman is usually awarded custody of the children, because she fights for it, and the judge usually agrees with the woman when awarding child custody. I do not hear Obama and liberals complaining about this disparity, because women are making these choices. So why do I hear them complaining when women choose to work less hours or choose less competitive careers?

Personally I believe that families would be better off, if women did not work while there are young children in their homes. Families would surly be better off if there was a full time mother and wife in the home. But we live in a free country, where women and men are free to individually choose how they will live their lives. We are free to choose how we divide our time between work, family and leisure. In today's day and age, many women choose a full time career. But some women also choose to be full time “stay-at-home-moms”, and others choose flexible jobs that will allow them more time at home. On the other hand, a vast majority of men choose to be full time breadwinners. As a result of “women's right to choose”, women, on average choose to earn 77 cents for each dollar that a man earns on average. Women have different priorities than men. As a result, many are not tied to a restrictive career path, they are free to leave the work force for years at a time.

Often, many women have a desire to “have it all”, a family and a meaningful, rewarding career. Unfortunately, in real life, compromises often have to be made, sometimes at the expense of the family, and sometimes at the expense of the career. In any case, it is today's women who are making these choices, not a sexist society who is trying to keep women down. I do not believe that in today's day and age, women are being held down in the work place.

I do not understand why liberals politicians are constantly trying to deceive the public about this. Why are liberal constituents so eager to celebrate anything that advances the premise that America is a mean and unfair country? Why do so few conservatives have the courage to hold Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other liberals, accountable for this disingenuous deception? I do not know the answer to these questions, but I do know that today's liberal culture prefers to believe in causes that makes them feel good, rather than perusing the truth. The biggest danger that America faces today, is putting emotion above reason and losing interest in the truth.