Do we need laws to guarantee equal pay for women?

Do we need laws to guarantee equal pay for women?

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The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, reported the pay gap between male and female White House staffers has more than tripled under President Donald Trump (NOLA.com).

Critics say that imbalance just indicates how much we need laws requiring that men and women are paid equally. But others argue the pay gap is a myth; women only make less than men because they often leave the workforce to have children or pursue lower paying jobs than men do. What do you think?

The 37 percent gender pay gap in Trump’s White House is more than double the 17 percent gender pay gap nationally. According to the Pew Research Center, the Trump White House gender gap is wider than the national gender pay gap stood in 1980 (NOLA.com).

Here are the median salaries for men and women in the Trump administration. The highest-paid staffers in the Trump White House are primarily male, because nearly 74 percent of the top 23 staffers are male. By contrast, in the Obama White House of 2015, only 52 percent of the highest-paid staffers were men (NOLA.com).

Some research indicates the gap is due to women missing years in the work force to bear and raise children (NOLA.com).

Another argument is men simply choose higher-paying jobs. That’s not discrimination, it’s a choice, just like the choice to take time off to have children (NOLA.com).

The pay gap is worse for women of color: while white women make 83 cents for every dollar men make, Black and Hispanic women make 66 cents and 60 cents on the dollar, respectively (NOLA.com).

See the full article here.