Feminism & Matriarchy

I saw someone bemoaning feminism and whining that we’re now living in a matriarchy. What planet is this person living on? What country are they speaking of? In the United States, the president and vice president are male, while 80% of the cabinet, including the four most senior positions are male. In the Senate 79% of the senators are male, and 81% of House members are also male. In the corporate world, 94% of the CEOs at S&P 500 companies are male. If this is a matriarchy, they are disguising it pretty damned well.

Sexual disparity exists – it is alive and well. According to a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 125 occupations in which comparable pay data was available, men made more than women in all but one of those. Across the labor force as a whole, women make roughly 80% of what men do, even adjusting for different occupational choices. Now you might think that is skewed by various factors. Even among physicians and surgeons, women only make about 62% of what men make.

The difference is not due to education. Women now receive almost half of the law degrees and medical degrees, yet those are among the occupations with some of the highest gender pay differences. Most of the jobs with the smallest pay difference require only a high school education, making them also the lowest paid jobs for both genders.

Beyond that, women comprise the vast majority of victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment. If there is supposed to be some sort of matriarchy, shouldn’t we see better outcomes for women across a variety of things? We don’t see that – at least those of us who are genuinely looking for factual data. Some people want to cherry pick specific incidents that support whatever conclusion they want to draw. That is not the whole picture, and in fact does not comprise the truth.