This is such a fun example of the Instant Expertise when it comes to the extremely complicated and much-researched question why there is a gender gap in earnings. Will Infantine dropped one of those Instant Pills into his beer mug last night and -- presto! -- he knows the reasons for women's lower earnings:
Women are not as motivated by money as men are, men work more hours and in more dangerous jobs. Or in his own expert words:
"Men, by and large, make more because of some of the things they do," state Rep. Will Infantine (R) said during a speech on a paycheck fairness bill. "Their jobs are, by and large, riskier. They don’t mind working nights and weekends. They don’t mind working overtime or outdoors."What's the problem with all that Instant Expertise, you might ask. Only that those things cannot explain all of the average difference in earnings by gender, only that there is a difference even once one controls for hours worked, only that the dangerous jobs are far too few to somehow explain much about the gender gap in all earnings by all full-time workers, only that even in the so-called flexible jobs which women are supposed to prefer men make, on average, more.
Infantine's colleagues' protested almost immediately, to which he responded that he pulled all of his information from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
"This is not me," he said before continuing to explain why women make less.
"Men work on average more than six hours a week longer than women do," he said, adding that even among business owners, women earn less. "Women make half of what men do because of flexibility of work, men are more motivated by money than women are."
Or put in a different way: You can't buy Instant Muscles or Instant Slimness or Instant Expertise. You have to actually delve deeper and you cannot stop with those explanations that most please your inner Manhood or Womanhood.
Let me recommend a few of my posts on these matters, available as links here.