In Montana: Equal Pay for Equal Work and a Mothers Love

On my morning show, Dominick On The Air, we talk about lots of news and political issues. I was surprised the other day when a caller said that women and men don't make the same pay when doing the same job. Women make 78 cents for every dollar a man makes.

How could that be true when there is the equal pay for equal work law? Yet, I hear Democrats, feminists and liberals repeat the lie.

The wage gap myth is that women make 78 cents for every dollar a man makes.

Conservatives, like myself, understand the wage gap issue is something used to get women angry, upset and vote for Democrats.

Let's start with the facts. The law of the United States and Montana make it illegal to pay a women less than a man for the same work.

Equal Pay Act of 1963

“SEC. 206. [Section 6]

(d) (1) No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this
section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such
employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying
wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at
which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment
for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill,
effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working
conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority
system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by
quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any
other factor other than sex: Provided, That an employer who is
paying a wage rate differential in violation of this subsection shall not,
in order to comply with the provisions of this subsection, reduce the wage
rate of any employee.”

Let me explain. A man and women do the same work; they MUST be paid the same. But, if you listen to politicians, you will hear them say women and men are not paid the same for comparable work. What the word “comparable” means is what they hope you won't question. That is the key word used by some people for political reasons so they can push the myth.

A male waiter, who works at a high class four-star restaurant where they are dressed formally, where a bowl of soup costs $25, and the average bill is about $300. That male waiter is paid more that a female waitress at Bob's Diner where a bowl of soup is $3.25 and the average bill is $8.

We can't fix the problem, the real problem, if we let both liberals and conservatives not tell us the truth. The problem isn't “comparable” work. The problem is more women need to be hired by high-class four-star restaurants.

For some reason, some of my conservative friends think that some jobs men should do and others women should do. Some business people think a female waiter isn't as classy as a male waiter. Let's deal with that and not some myth about the wage gap.

If a man works 40 hours a week and a women works 30 hours a week who will get paid less? The people who push the wage gap myth fail to say the way. They come up with the 78 cents to the dollar figure because some people work less than others.

The highly respected National Review magazine, which has been described as "the bible of American conservatism," had a great story on this called “The Pay Gap Myth and Other Lies That Won't Die” from the story:

“Like many other politically successful lies, it contains just enough of the truth to fool the gullible. Women as a group do get paid less than men as a group. But not for doing the same work. Women average fewer annual hours of work than men. They work continuously for fewer years than men, since only women get pregnant, and most women are not prepared to instantly dump the baby on somebody else to raise. Being a mother is not an incidental sideline, and being a single mother can be a major restriction on how much time can be put into a job, either in a year or over the years. People like Hillary Clinton can simply grab a statistic about male–female income differences and run with it, since her purpose is not truth but votes. The real question, however, is whether, or to what extent, those income differences are due to employers paying women and men different wages for doing the very same jobs, for the very same amount of time... Many studies have been done over many years — and they repeatedly show that women and men who work the very same hours in the very same jobs at the very same levels of skill and experience do not have the pay gaps that people like Hillary Clinton loudly denounce.”

Click here to read the whole story. 

So even though the facts prove the wage gap between men and women is false. As long as we don't face the real problem. It's not a liberal problem or a conservative problem. It is not a male problem or a female problem. It's a glass ceiling problem.

That being said, when a little girl or boy is sick, he or she cries for “Mommy." I know that was true with me. Moms miss for their kids. The love a mother and child is very special and it is different than the love a father and child have. As a man, I am jealous of that. My Dad knew it was true, and I know it is true.

Dominick