Women aren’t paid less as an institutional norm; they’re paid less because they don’t work as hard according to New Hampshire State Rep. Will Infantine (R)
In speaking against a bill aimed at closing the gender wage gap on Wednesday, New Hampshire State Rep. Will Infantine (R) said that men make more because they take on riskier and harder work.
“Men, by and large, make more because of some of the things they do,” he said. “Their jobs are, by and large, riskier, they don’t mind working nights and weekends, they don’t mind working overtime or outdoors.”
And yet, when women do risky work, work outdoors, work overtime, or work nights and weekends they are paid less money in a majority of cases for doing the same job.
To say that women are afraid to take “risky” jobs or work nights and weekends implies that women are all delicate flowers who are afraid of their own shadow. But there’s another dimension to his accusations.
In cases where women cannot work nights or weekends, it’s probably because they have children who depend on them during those times. I’m willing to bet that never occurred to the ironically-named Infantine.