Annie-Rose Strasser of ThinkProgress asserts that minimum wage, instead of being an economic issue, is “a pillar for women’s rights”.
First, she cites a Center for American Progress study which says that women would disproportionately benefit from a minimum wage increase, claiming that 64% of minimum wage workers are women.
However, we have to remember: this would affect 2.6% of working women. Not exactly a pillar for women’s rights.
Second, she says that: “Families benefit from a wage increase. Sixty percent of women are the primary or co-bread winners in their households. More money in their paychecks means more for their families”. Primary or co-bread winners? That’s just about everyone, right? It basically excludes 40% of women who earn so much less than their husband that they can’t even be considered to be a co-breadwinner. Men are still the largest group of primary and co-breadwinners in their households, so wage increase benefits to men would have more of a difference. Still not a pillar for women’s rights.
And third, Strasser claims that “13.1 million women would see a wage increase from a minimum wage hike” with 4.2 “spillover” workers reaping the benefits. What’s not listed is the number of those women who would lose their job as a result of wage hikes being given to their coworkers.
Strasser ends with an economically-unsound argument, that “studies show the opposite: [increasing the minimum wage] would strengthen job creation, particularly when unemployment is high, as it is now.”
That’s patently false. In fact, you’ll see at least three examples since the 1950s where increasing the minimum wage led to economic downturn, and the low unemployment rates during eras where the minimum wage remained stagnant.
So no, the minimum wage is not a “womens issue”, it’s not a “mens issue”, it’s an economic issue. Economics don’t discriminate.
