State senator claims women are not equal in Washington

August 26 was Women’s Equality Day. Congratulations, women in this country have come a very long way from a system of sexism and unequal treatment. And we should never forget that sexist history.

But apparently, we haven’t come as far as we like to believe.

In a blog post, State Senator Sharon Nelson says “women still don’t have equal rights.”

Now, she doesn’t actually back up that bizarre claim &#8212 not in the slightest. She takes issue with a number of bills that didn’t get past this last session, but they’re mostly bills that impact everyone, not just women.

Nelson argues, for example, that because there isn’t a statewide minimum wage of $12 an hour, this somehow shows that women don’t have equal rights. She says it represents “a modest step toward a better quality of life for Washington State’s most vulnerable women and families.”

This is a remarkably disingenuous argument.

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A minimum wage doesn’t just impact women, it impacts men &#8212 not to mention businesses. Nelson doesn’t make a case as to how this is about equality, other than to say more women then men have minimum wage jobs. Of course she doesn’t mention that we’re talking about less than 4 percent of the work force, almost 50 percent of whom are between the ages of 16 and 25; meaning, young people getting starter jobs.

She apparently wants to join the storied and completely false tradition of claiming the face of the minimum wage fight is a middle-aged woman with four kids struggling to get by. While that happens, it’s the exception, not the rule.

Next, Nelson is upset that the Equal Pay Opportunity Act did not pass because it, in part, “would have made it illegal to pay a woman less than a man for the same work…” It’s already illegal in Washington state to determine pay based on gender.

And the truth is, men and women shouldn’t automatically be paid the exact same. Men should get more when they’re more qualified and women should get more when they’re more qualified. A man with one month experience in retail management should make less per hour than a woman with one year experience.

The problem is, activists will turn to out-of-context stats to try to prove institutionalized sexism is to blame for a gender wage gap.

Nelson explains that full-time women in Seattle earn 73 cents for every man’s $1. Though she doesn’t provide a source, the National Partnership for Women & Families has made that claim. But it’s astoundingly misleading.

The reason for a disparity is that in Seattle, the tech industry reigns supreme and more men get into tech than women. Women are not getting into STEM majors in college, leaving tech companies unable to simply fill their staff with females. Thus you have a pool of higher paid male tech workers being compared to lower-wage hospitality and leisure workers, which tend to be female. You’re comparing apples to oranges.

But the truth is, when you compare apples to apples, there will always be a wage gap that doesn’t show institutionalized sexism; it shows that men and women are biologically different. Again, activists don’t want to have this conversation.

Women have children and they take more time than men out of the workforce to care for the child. These women should not be punished and I’m a supporter of paid maternity leave. I think every company should offer paid maternity leave if it fits in their operating budgets. However, if a female is out of the workforce for several months at a time while their male counterparts are not, they’re working more quickly towards acquiring more skills and experience. This is not sexist, it’s reality.

If a male takes time off for several months, you know what happens? The female ends up earning more than the male, if she stays in the workforce.

Nelson continues to try to support her claim that women are not given equal rights in Washington because, in part, insurance doesn’t cover all abortion care. There’s no right to free procedures you’re electing to receive. This is the same for men and we shouldn’t get free vasectomies. Just because you have the right to choose for an abortion, doesn’t mean you have the right to get it for free.

I look forward to your responses on her bizarre evidence that “women still don’t have equal rights.” I think that kind of rhetoric, while it certainly riles up her like-minded base, not just dismisses the real progress made, but it disrespects reality.