Straight, liberal women unite! There is a new enemy at the workforce, and this group is earning more money than heterosexual women. The wage gap is growing – and perhaps even bouts of discrimination is happening – between these people and straight women. It’s time to protest.
Just who exactly is this group? Lesbians.
That’s right. Using data from the United States Census Bureau and the Minnesota Population Center, The Economist reported that lesbians earn more than heterosexual women. The statistics suggest there is a nine percent premium for lesbians over their straight counterparts.
Here is what the economics magazine writes:
“Marieka Klawitter of the University of Washington looked at 29 studies on wages and sexual orientation last year. On average, they found a 9% earnings premium for lesbians over heterosexual women, compared with a penalty of 11% for gay men relative to straight men. This discrepancy has been borne out by research on America, Britain, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. Even after adjusting for the fact that lesbians are on average more educated than straight women, and less likely to have children, the gap persists.”
The publication cites a number of factors that may contribute to the gap: lesbians may be more competitive, their partner’s gender and (yes it’s actually a thing) positive discrimination.
On the whole, The Economist is confused about why lesbians earn more (perhaps the report’s authors are frightened of being politically incorrect). It’s as simple as this: her marginal productivity (an adjustment in output based on an additional unit of labor) will be the same as a male and will thus receive the same level of pay.
Lesbians are a lot more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to work the same amount of hours that men do. Lesbians will not be missing out on work because they’re pregnant nor will they be exiting the labor force for several years to care for a child. They will not have to leave work on a regular basis to attend a son or daughter’s illness or visit to the dentist.
This isn’t the first study to suggest that lesbians have higher salaries than heterosexual women.
Last year, a study found that lesbians earn a premium wage of 33 percent and work 20 percent more hours than straight women. The lead researcher, Professor Mark Wooden, explained: “One explanation for the increased earnings and longer work hours of lesbians might be that this group are less likely to have children than heterosexual women.”
So, no. There isn’t a vast conspiracy or a secret society working together to discriminate against women. If that were the case then why do unmarried women earn more than unmarried men?
Perhaps we need some Thomas Sowell to explain:
With all of that being said, will there be just as much outrage over this data? Will Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton cloud the airwaves to talk about the widening gap between lesbians and heterosexual women? Will they demand equal pay legislation to tackle this growing problem? Probably not. But then there would be a lack of intellectual consistency if they don’t show their outrage. When did these two ever care about being consistent in their thoughts and arguments?
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