Dear Congresswoman Crockett,
How fascinating to watch your latest oversimplified take on wage disparities. That "66 cents on the dollar" statistic you're throwing around? It's about as scientifically rigorous as your average TikTok economic analysis.
Here's something they apparently didn't teach you in law school: MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS CONSISTENTLY SHOWS THE WAGE GAP SHRINKS DRAMATICALLY WHEN YOU ACCOUNT FOR ACTUAL VARIABLES.¹ If you're a social scientist worth your salt, you never do a univariate analysis. That means when examining wage gaps, you break it down by age, occupation, hours worked, experience level, education, geographic location, industry, personality traits, and about 18 other factors—not just gender or race.
Let me give you some concrete examples that destroy your discrimination narrative. Here's a perfect example of how statistics can mislead: I came across a post yesterday claiming teachers make a lot of money compared to the rest of the nation. This is true, but it IS STATISTICAL MALPRACTICE, because teacher salaries should be compared to all other jobs that require a degree, clean background check, and lifelong continuing education. They were comparing teachers against cashiers and fast food and other jobs that 16-year-olds do. When you make that honest comparison, teachers are greatly underpaid—they made 26.4% less than other similarly educated professionals in 2022, with younger teachers (ages 25-34) earning only $46,310-$49,270 compared to biological scientists ($69,880), physical therapists ($81,580), or statisticians ($96,320).² More importantly, MALE TEACHERS MAKE THE SAME AS FEMALE TEACHERS when they have identical experience and credentials.³ Teachers in general probably make less money because most of the union members are more agreeable, so it is less likely for strikes. MALE NURSES and Paramedics usually MAKE THE SAME AS FEMALE NURSES when controlling for experience and setting—despite men often being picked for lift assists, combative patients, and code teams due to natural muscle mass differences.⁴
The real issue isn't discrimination—it's WHAT JOBS PEOPLE ACTUALLY CHOOSE. Men are overwhelmingly more likely to work jobs requiring greater physical strength (bricklayers, construction workers, oil rig operators), STEM fields demanding 70-80 hour work weeks, high-risk occupations that command hazard pay, and positions requiring geographic mobility and family sacrifice.⁵ Women tend to choose careers that prioritize SOCIAL IMPACT OVER COMPENSATION—education, social work, non-profit sectors.⁶
But there's another crucial factor you're ignoring: personality differences. There's a trait called AGREEABLENESS—agreeable people are compassionate and polite, and agreeable people get paid LESS THAN DISAGREEABLE PEOPLE FOR THE SAME JOB.⁷ Women score higher on agreeableness than men, which accounts for about 5% of salary variance. Peterson's clinical research shows that WOMEN ARE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS LIKELY TO ASK FOR RAISES OR NEGOTIATE AGGRESSIVELY, while men are more willing to be "disagreeable" with their bosses when it comes to compensation.⁸ This isn't oppression—it's psychology.
Want proof that these are natural preferences, not societal oppression? IN SCANDINAVIA—societies that have gone further than anywhere to mandate gender equality—women STILL CHOOSE NURSING OVER ENGINEERING AT 20-TO-1 RATIOS when given complete freedom.⁹ Those are ineradicable differences that emerge when people make their own choices without social pressure or tyranny.
Here's a revolutionary concept: wages are set through voluntary agreement between employer and employee. A person agrees to accept certain wages the business is willing to pay. If no one accepts those wages, the business will fail, so the business raises wages to attract better employees. It's called market dynamics, not exploitation.
And before you claim women lack the cognitive ability for higher-paying fields, the research shows that intelligence and conscientiousness predict workplace success, and THE AVERAGE IQ FOR WOMEN AND MEN IS IDENTICAL.¹⁰ So if there's no intelligence gap, and you're seeing different outcomes, maybe—just maybe—it's because people are making different choices about what they value in their careers. Men are more likely to sacrifice work-life balance, relocate for promotions, work dangerous jobs, and specialize intensively in one high-paying field. These are CHOICES, not discrimination.
Maybe instead of tweeting oversimplified statistics that ignore HOURS WORKED, OVERTIME, HAZARD PAY, PHYSICAL DEMANDS, EDUCATIONAL CHOICES, GEOGRAPHIC MOBILITY, ASSERTIVENESS DIFFERENCES, AND CAREER PRIORITIZATION, you could focus on teaching assertiveness training and negotiation skills—you know, actual solutions instead of victim-narrative soundbites.
But what do I know? I'm just someone who understands that CORRELATION ISN'T CAUSATION and that complex social issues require more nuance than fits in a grievance tweet.
Citations:
Peterson, J. (2018). Jordan Peterson's Channel 4 Interview: Multivariate analysis methodology.
Economic Policy Institute. (2024). "Teacher pay penalty still looms large: Trends in teacher wages and compensation through 2022." U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). "Teachers Are Among Most Educated, Yet Their Pay Lags."
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). "High School Teachers: Occupational Outlook Handbook."
AMN Healthcare. (2025). "Female and Male Nurse Salary Comparison."
Nurse.org. (2021). "Male Nurses Earn $5,000 More Per Year Than Female Nurses, Study Finds."
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). "Fatal occupational injuries by industry and selected demographic characteristics."
Peterson, J. (2018). "Men and women won't sort themselves into the same categories if you leave them to do it of their own accord."
Peterson, J. (2018). Channel 4 Interview: "Agreeable people get paid less than disagreeable people for the same job."
Peterson, J. (2018). Clinical psychology research on assertiveness training and wage negotiation.
Peterson, J. (2018). "In Scandinavia it's 20 to 1 female nurses to male... and approximately the same male engineers to female engineers."
Peterson, J. (2018). "The average IQ for a woman and the average IQ for a man is identical."
#MultivariateAnalysis #AgreeablenessMatters #OccupationalChoices #EqualWorkEqualPay #TeachersUnderpaid #NursesSamePay #PhysicalDemands #CareerChoicesMatter #STEMFields #ScandinavianParadox #NegotiationSkills #AssertivenessPaysOff #ScienceOverSlogans #PersonalityTraits #PetersonWasRight