“What do I tell my daughter?”
So begins the Audi advertisement millions of Americans saw last Sunday during the yearly super celebration of commercials that, sandwiched in between them, included one of the most exciting football championship games ever.
The ad shows a father watching his young girl racing go-carts against young boys, and his thoughts continue: “Do I tell her that her grandpa’s worth more than her grandma?”
She won’t believe that.
“That her dad is worth more than her mom?”
Not unless you want to sleep on the couch.
“Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued less than every man she ever meets?”
His daughter wins the race and dad considers, “Or maybe I’ll be able to tell her something different.”
Maybe? Maybe he’s fallen hook, line and sinker for the canard of the “gender pay gap.”
That gap is simply the median income of all men in the economy compared to the median income of all women. As the Washington Post explains, “The gender wage gap … can be primarily explained by differences in industry and occupation choice, hours worked, and gaps for taking time off to have children.”
The Post also discloses that Audi has “just two women on its senior leadership team in the United States and no women on its global management board.” I don’t know what they’re going to tell their daughters.
But I’ve always told my daughters they can do anything they put their minds to.
And perhaps I’ll add this advice: “Don’t buy an Audi.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
5 replies on “The Advertising Hypocrisy Gap”
Paul, do you think the statement has the same validity to your son? Sadly, there a those who would stack the deck and reject a true meritocracy.
Of course, John. When I hear about gender and racial gaps, I always wonder what those folks will say when the current gap is closed and a new one opens up. Will they be as concerned?
let’s provide everyone of every gender and race and creed and color equal opportunity. Tell them all to dream BIG. And to work hard because that’s how dreams come true. And then get out of their way.
Your comments are cogent and much appreciated.
Ooops, a little cherry picking there, Paul? The second half of the WaPo quote reads: “But researchers have also repeatedly found that part of the gap that remains is “unexplained” or unaccounted for by any of these factors.” Gotta be honest here…
Doug — Not cherry-picking at all. How does that second sentence, which was not included, in any way negate the first? I quoted the Post, “The gender wage gap … can be primarily explained by differences in industry and occupation choice, hours worked, and gaps for taking time off to have children.” If the gap can “primarily” be so explained, it would logically follow that it cannot completely and totally be so explained.
I could have gone into various analyses, and suggested the gap, by my best reading of the available material, appears to be about 5 cents. But in a short commentary of 250 – 300 words, I cannot include everything. In this case, including the second part of the Post’s parenthetical comment or my own reading of the available information would have required delving into different views of what explains the “unexplained” portion on which there is little consensus.
But my goal here was simply to show that the statistic, which as you probably know is nearly universally repeated by the media and accepted as meaningful, was not very meaningful at all. Because my point was to show that the ridiculous Audi commercial was an exaggeration built on an exaggeration, not to debate the “so-called” gender pay gap.
But, of course, I included a link to the full Post article for folks like yourself who want more info. I also included a link to a previous commentary (also with a number of links) about the gender wage or pay gap being a poor metric.
There is a great deal that can said about the gender pay gap, but in a 250 – 300 commentary one cannot include it all, especially when that isn’t the main thrust of the commentary. However, let me suggest to you and all readers additional links:
Huffington Post: Wage Gap Myth Exposed — By Feminists
By Christina Hoff Sommers, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
“Could the gender wage gap turn out to be zero? Probably not. The AAUW correctly notes that there is still evidence of residual bias against women in the workplace. However, with the gap approaching a few cents, there is not a lot of room for discrimination.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-hoff-sommers/wage-gap_b_2073804.html
WaPost: Fact checking the 2013 State of the Union speech
“Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis surveyed economic literature and concluded that ‘research suggests that the actual gender wage gap (when female workers are compared with male workers who have similar characteristics) is much lower than the raw wage gap.’ They cited one survey, prepared for the Labor Department, which concluded that when such differences are accounted for, much of the hourly wage gap dwindled, to about 5 cents on the dollar.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/fact-checking-the-2013-state-of-the-union-speech/2013/02/12/ce69a4e0-7589 – 11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_blog.html?utm_term=.335c4dc4b478
Tweet: Pointing out that it is AGAINST THE LAW to pay a woman less than a man for the same job
https://twitter.com/TueborFrog/status/826861220900794369
PolitiFact: What pay gap? Young women out-earn men in cities, conservative pundit claims
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/apr/09/genevieve-wood/what-pay-gap-young-women-out-earn-men-cities-gop‑p/
Observer: Audi Borrows From Obama After Twitter Outs Hypocrisy of ‘Gender Wage Gap’ Ad
[Sub-head>] Their wage gap is due to ‘factors’ — everyone else discriminates
http://observer.com/2017/02/audi-gender-wage-gap-political-super-bowl-ads/
WaPost: President Obama’s persistent ’77-cent’ claim on the wage gap gets a new Pinocchio rating
“Indeed, BLS data show that women who do not get married have virtually no wage gap; they earn 96 cents for every dollar a man makes.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2014/04/09/president-obamas-persistent-77-cent-claim-on-the-wage-gap-gets-a-new-pinocchio-rating/?utm_term=.61ac603bd58b
The Atlantic: What Gender Pay-Gap Statistics Aren’t Capturing
“That 5‑cent difference is evidence that something isn’t getting accounted for in all those variables that economists are adjusting.
“The premise of the occupational-differences argument is that if women are choosing jobs that are easier to do, they shouldn’t be paid the same wages as men. But what that argument — that women are to blame for keeping their wages down because they’re choosing bad jobs — doesn’t take into account are the many things that contribute to the way men and women choose their careers.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/paygap-discrimination/492965/
Slate: The Gender Wage Gap Lie
By Hanna Rosin, co-host of NPR’s Invisibilia and a founder of DoubleX . She is also the author of The End of Men.
Her analysis is that women make 91-cents for every $1 men make.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/08/gender_pay_gap_the_familiar_line_that_women_make_77_cents_to_every_man_s.html
DailyWire: 7 Facts You Need To Know To Debunk The #EqualPayDay Lie
http://www.dailywire.com/news/4858/7‑facts-you-need-know-debunk-equalpayday-lie-ben-shapiro
NPR: The Gender Wage Gap In The Arts
Interesting discussion here.
http://www.npr.org/2016/12/07/504651764/the-gender-wage-gap-in-the-arts
Forbes: Don’t Buy Into The Gender Pay Gap Myth
By Karin Agness, Founder and President of the Network of enlightened Women
http://www.forbes.com/sites/karinagness/2016/04/12/dont-buy-into-the-gender-pay-gap-myth/#412282a14766
Dept of Labor: Breaking Down the Gender Wage Gap
https://www.dol.gov/wb/media/gender_wage_gap.pdf
If I recall, it was USSC justice who, in dissent, who quipped, “It will take more than an act of Congress to convince me thereis no difference between men and women.” I would eliminate the last three words and substitute “individuals”.
Equality of result is an invalid and unobtainable goal without the total repression of the human spirit.
I suggest that each proponent of that goal act, putting themselves where they want all to be, by accepting the “average wage” as their total remuneration for their individual productivity. As that will, of course, be rejected, as should the false and utopian construct upon which the desired result is based.
There was a reason for the Tenth Commandment being on the list. If you do not remember what it is, look it up, and read the other nine as well.