I’m only now getting around to reading this Washington Post article that claims, to quote the headline, that “Closing the gender wage gap could pull half of working single moms out of poverty.” This paper, which defines the gender wage gap as the difference between men and women with similar education levels and work hours, seems to be the ultimate source of the claim. The assumption, obviously, is that the gender wage gap would be closed by paying the women more rather than paying the men less. Where the additional wage funds would come from is unclear. The conclusion that a lot of poor people would no longer be poor if they somehow made more money certainly seems solid.