Last week, Time’s Up, a women’s rights organization, posted a study from the American Association of University Women which stated women hold the most student loan debt and the gender pay gap was the reason they had a harder time than men in paying it back. But seemed to ignore the fact that women make up the majority of college graduates, and therefore would hold the majority of debt.
“Women hold almost two-thirds of the outstanding student debt in the U.S. — about $929 billion,” the group posted to Twitter. “The gender pay gap is one factor that keeps women from paying off their debt as quickly as men.”
Women hold almost two-thirds of the outstanding student debt in the U.S. — about $929 billion. The gender pay gap is one factor that keeps women from paying off their debt as quickly as men. (via @aauw) https://t.co/HqrO1jVqVr pic.twitter.com/dCwZAMlABz
— TIME'S UP (@TIMESUPNOW) July 19, 2019
In their study the AAUW briefly mentions the fact that women are the majority of college and university graduates but fails to explain that that is the reason they hold most of the debt. They quickly shifted to claim that student debt is a “women’s issue.”
“It clearly is,” they wrote on the organization’s website.
They go on to say:
“This report shows that women take on larger student loans than do men. And because of the gender pay gap, they have less disposable income after graduation. This contributes to the fact that women take more time — and face greater difficulty — than men do paying off debt.”
“The pay gap starts as soon as women enter the workforce and widens as time goes on,” the AAUW wrote. “Women college graduates working full-time are paid 18 percent less than their male peers one year after graduation. By four years after graduation, that gap widens to 20 percent. Overall, women with bachelor’s degrees working full-time make 26 percent less than their male peers. Lower pay means less income to devote to debt repayment.”
Nothing in the study mentions how women, oftentimes, choose professions that pay lower wages, or how long people have worked in their profession (to determine a salary increase), how much overtime is worked, if a woman took maternity leave, and how men are more likely to negotiate a higher salary or ask for a pay raise.
As The Daily Wire reports:
“…Nine of the top 10 lowest paying majors are dominated by women, while nine of the top 10 highest paying majors are dominated by men — and women in large cities actually out-earn their male peers just out of college.”
Some folks on Twitter couldn’t help but introduce the organization to a few facts:
Remind me who pays the most taxes (and therefore foots the bill when debt is not repaid), men or women?
— SocialJusticeCourier (@ItsRainingFem) July 20, 2019
Remind me who are the majority of students, men or women?
Your commitment to "equality" is selective at best, and disingenuous at worst.
1. The gender pay gap delusion has been repeatedly debunked, at length.
— TANSTAAFL (@RetBombSqd) July 21, 2019
2. There are more women attending college than men, ergo more women with student debt. Rocket science, this.
3. The article says nothing about women's choices of majors and how that affects earning potential.
Women dominate the Arts. Women dominate teaching, and nursing. Woman dominate the lower paying professions. There is no gender pay gap. Doctors are more valuable than nurses
— Shawn (@Swhit310) July 20, 2019
If more women go to college then women will owe more college debt. Seems like common sense to those that have it.
— H8-FlAGS🇺🇸🏴🇳🇬🇬🇧🇨🇮🇧🇷🇰🇼🇸🇩 (@publord) July 21, 2019
H/T: The Daily Wire