A new report from Britain’s Office for National Statistics has revealed that women in their 20s who work full time now earn more than men of the same age, and for those in their 30s the gap has decreased to less than 3%. For those who work part time, women make more across the board.
Although women’s overrepresentation in universities is one factor, most important has been the decline of private sector wages in comparison to the public sector, which has enjoyed pay increases even during the recession. More than twice as many women as men work in the public sector, and 40% of British working women (and only 15% of men) have public sector jobs. Because public sector jobs are funded by those who earn money in the private sector, this should raise the question of whether men’s private sector wages are artificially low due to the high business taxes needed for all those public jobs for women.
It is starting to become clear that the price of gender equality falls overwhelmingly on men, and that’s not really very equal when you think about it. Essentially, men are being held back and impoverished in order to create an illusion of equality, which is turning out to be very expensive to maintain. This is really what’s wrong with the concept of “equity feminism;” it mandates an unequal burden to achieve some subjectively equal outcome.
Although feminists may cheer the news, it will not be enough for them. They will not stop until women have it better than men in every possible measure of wealth, quality of life and power.
