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IS sex discrimination rising in the workplace? That’s how many feminists interpret a recent New York Times story. After two decades of shrinking, the male-female wage gap, reports the Times, is widening again. The full-time working woman currently earns 75 cents for every dollar a man earns, down from 77 cents in 1993. Even among college graduates and in occupations where women outnumber men, the male income advantage is rising.

While technically correct, these figures are misleading. There are now millions of women working full time (many in their fifties and sixties) who stayed home for a decade or more raising children. Obviously their wages will be lower than those of males of similar education and skills who have been on the job continuously.

ER

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Ed Rubenstein

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IS sex discrimination rising in the workplace? That’s how many feminists interpret a recent New York Times story. After two decades of shrinking, the male-female wage gap, reports the Times, is widening again. The full-time working woman currently earns 75 cents for every dollar a man earns, down from 77 cents in 1993. Even among college graduates and in occupations where women outnumber men, the male income advantage is rising.

While technically correct, these figures are misleading. There are now millions of women working full time (many in their fifties and sixties) who stayed home for a decade or more raising children. Obviously their wages will be lower than those of males of similar education and skills who have been on the job continuously.