Beyoncé Cites Economic Myth To Declare Gender Equality “A Myth”

Recording artist
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is making waves with an essay she wrote
titled “Gender Equality Is a Myth!” The core piece of data upon
which she builds her argument is itself a myth, and she relies on
coercive language to advance her agenda.

Knowles-Carter penned the piece for the
Shriver Report, which covers women’s issues. She writes,
“Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average
working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man
makes.” She proceeds by telling the reader what he or she “has to”
do to change this.

It is true that women account for almost half
the workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the caveat that its
“comparisons of earnings… are on a broad level and do not control
for many factors that may be significant in explaining earnings
differences,” also confirms that women make less money. However,
the assertion of a gender wage gap, which is restated not only
throughout the Shriver Report but also as a White House talking point, is
rooted in basic misunderstandings of the information.

The differences in earnings stem not from discriminatory
employers paying women less for equal work (which has been a
federal
crime for over 50 years), but from a slew of individual
choices. Preferred fields of collegiate study and subsequent
occupational opportunities, fewer working hours, and taking time
off to raise children are among the variables that lead to
differences in income. Economist Steven Horwitz of St. Lawrence
University points
out that “studies that control for these factors have shown
that if you take a man and a woman with the same experience, same
education, same job, and compare their salaries, what you find is
that women make about 98 percent of what men do.” 

Time has
highlighted that in some areas, women’s earnings actually
outpace men’s.

The
Washington Post Fact Checker, the
American Enterprise Institute, economist
Diana Furchtgott-Roth,
Carrie Lukas of the Independent Women’s Forum, and many others
have also
addressed various aspects of the gender wage gap myth.

Knowles-Carter does express positive ideas about “teach[ing] our
girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible,” which would
be to their benefit, economically or otherwise.

But, since the differences she criticizes are not rooted in any
injustice, only personal preference, Knowles-Carter detracts from
her own argument when she resorts to telling people that they “have
to” change their behavior. This runs contrary to the empowering
sentiment that women (and men) are free to make their own
professional choices and deterime how to gauge their
achievements.