White House economist Betsey Stevenson wants to celebrate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment explicitly guaranteeing women the right to vote, which was ratified on August 18, 1920.
Today, on the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, we celebrate Women’s Equality Day. And today, the day-to-day operations of too many businesses and institutions still don’t reflect true sex equality. We’ve got the data to prove it. …
The data Stevenson broadcasts, however, show exactly the opposite. Women represent half the American workforce, a majority of college and graduate school enrollments, and women’s earnings have risen faster than men’s since the 1970s.
Those facts don’t stop Stevenson from cheerleading Obama’s “equal” pay agenda that’s more hype than real help.
This Administration has a long history of shattering our remaining glass ceilings and upholding the rights of women — but real sex equality is going to take more than the President acting alone.
It sure will, given evidence that sex-based pay gaps are prevalent in Obama’s own administration, and that those pay gaps are long-standing.
In the final analysis, equality can be achieved in two general ways: through imposed uniformity that treats everyone the same; or through freedom, which acknowledges that individuals will make different choices based on their own unique preferences and needs.
The Obama administration seems bound and determined to pursue the former path, through quotas, gimmicks, and mandates. The better path to equality comes through freedom, which nurtures opportunity for all.
Want to really celebrate equality? Then we should advance freedom and opportunity in education, careers, and family life.