Around Equal Pay Day, the Wall Street Journal ran an Op-Ed entitled “The ‘Gender Pay Gap’ Is a Myth That Won’t Go Away.” Because of course.
It laid out the case that there is no underlying gender pay gap. Instead, it claims, “The pay gap is the natural economic result of choices men and women make, including how much or how little to work and which occupations to enter.”
There were examples like men *choosing* to work two hours more a week — and thus, presumably, women *choosing* to do more of the housework and “child care.” (If you detected sarcasm in the second half of that sentence, you were right.)
I guess there are also the *choices* women make to go into industries and businesses in which they are underrepresented at the top and thus have not had the same opportunities for advancement. (One Wall Street CEO told me several years ago that he came into his job convinced that there were fewer women at the top of his firm because they *chose* to leave mid-career to have babies; what he found is that they actually *chose* to stay at a greater rate than men. They just didn’t receive as many promotions — even with strong performance reviews — and got stuck in middle management.)
This came to a head last week, when we saw one of the greatest basketball players of this — or any — generation go pro: It was Caitlin Clark, the #1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. At a jaw-dropping salary of $76,535. That is not a typo; I didn’t leave out two digits.
Now, by the Wall Street Journal’s reckoning, I guess Clark *chose* to go to the WNBA instead of the NBA. And so she *chose* to make $76,535, rather than the $10 million of the #1 NBA player, *choosing* to earn less than 1% of what he will. In fact, she *chose* a salary that is less than what some NBA mascots make.
Icky icing on the cake: At one of Clark’s first press conferences, a reporter told her, “I like that you’re here.”
(OK, fine, bland enough.)
Then, in regards to the heart symbol she often makes to her family after every game, he said, “OK, well, start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”
(Ooh, creepy. On so many levels.)
Like so many women in so many situations over so many years, Clark *chose* to hold her smile and let the moment go by. She *chose* not to rock the boat. (She’s that good and she still had to put up with all of that, for all the world to see. It’s head-shaking.)
We women know that these types of *choices* are often not real choices. But instead, a tax that we pay as women — a tax to keep the peace. At home, in the workplace, at a press conference. Think of it as another kind of pink tax.
For Caitlin Clark, of course, the money is going to come, as her fans will make their own real choices: Women and their daughters and their friends (and their daughters’ friends) are going to choose to buy out those Clark jerseys. They’re going to attend her games and watch her on TV. And they’re going to buy her shoes. (Sign me up.)
But let’s not confuse the real choices women make with what are not choices at all.
