An Arizona Republican candidate for Senate is under fire after saying the gender pay gap is a fake "left-wing narrative" because he says it is men who do all the hardest work.
Blake Masters—whose campaign is funded by far-right billionaire PayPal founder Peter Thiel—is running to unseat current Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly. Masters' Facebook campaign page proudly touts his endorsements from embattled Republicans Representative Madison Cawthorn and Senator Josh Hawley.
Video of Masters' speech was obtained by NBC News, and has led to heated criticism of the candidate.
See his comments below.
NEW: Video obtained by NBC News shows Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters disputing the existence of a gender pay gap. @VaughnHillyard reports.\n\nMasters: \u201cWomen are not paid less in America than men. It\u2019s a left-wing narrative, this gender pay gap.\u201dpic.twitter.com/uovx7QKU1m— Meet the Press (@Meet the Press) 1652291540
Speaking at a candidates' forum in deep-red Scottsdale, Arizona, Masters not only accused the left of propagandizing the idea of a gender pay gap but denied its existence entirely.
"Women are not paid less in America than men. It's a left-wing narrative, this gender pay gap."
He then went on to refute his own claim, saying women are paid less than men but it's because they don't work as much or as hard as men.
"When you control for the occupations, when you control for people taking time out to, you know, birth children, things are actually pretty equal."
"And men do the most dangerous jobs."
His comments came during a discussion of the Equal Rights Amendment, which Congress has been trying to pass since the 1970s. The amendment would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.
Masters went on to continue refuting his own claim about the existence of the gender pay gap with more unsubstantiated claims about men's jobs being harder than women's.
"Men are the ones who are doing risky, you know, fishing–crab in Alaska."
"And sometimes those jobs pay more... and so I think we got to push back on the fake left-wing narrative that women don't have equal rights in this country."
In reality, the extensive data and research on the matter reveals the pay gap between men and women has been relatively stable for the past 15 years, with women making on average just 84% of what men earned in 2020.
When looked based on race, non-White women make even less.
And even when taking into account the dangerous and strenuous jobs on which Masters' entire claim rests, researchers still find a an average gap of $.05 in pay between men and women
On Twitter, Masters' comments drew no shortage of criticism.
So he\u2019s definitely not after the ladies vote then.— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 Christina Arrington \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 3x \ud83d\udc89 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 Christina Arrington \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 3x \ud83d\udc89) 1652291644
THIS needs a whole lot more airplay @MSNBC When these guys say the quiet part out loud, we have to make sure they're heard. Their words, in their voice.https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1524447329188823041\u00a0\u2026— Deborah Simmel (@Deborah Simmel) 1652364105
Last week we learned about the Blake Masters contraception deception.\nThis week it's the Blake Masters sexist compensation dispensation.https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1524447329188823041\u00a0\u2026— kenny FUCK THE PATRIARCHY jacobs \ud83c\udf3b (@kenny FUCK THE PATRIARCHY jacobs \ud83c\udf3b) 1652305263
While others just found Masters and his rhetoric ridiculous.
ALL THE MEN IN AMERICA \nARE FISHING-CRAB FISHING IN ALASKA!!! \n\nTHE MANLY MEN! \nTHE FISHER MEN!— mollyswordmcdonough \ud83c\udf0a (@mollyswordmcdonough \ud83c\udf0a) 1652292756
Dude is seriously what would happen if we asked a computer to build a person.— The Notorious JPG \ud83c\udf35 (@The Notorious JPG \ud83c\udf35) 1652330624
Ah, yes I forgot about all the Arizona crab fishermen that fish the rugged waters of the Salt, Gila and New River. Such a high risk job.(for those outside Arizona, those rivers are dry and only run after storms)— Rusty Shackleford \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Rusty Shackleford \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1652297707
He denies there is a gender gap, then in the next sentence defends there being a gender gap?https://twitter.com/vaughnhillyard/status/1524450326308347904\u00a0\u2026— Morten \u00d8verbye (@Morten \u00d8verbye) 1652367378
Denying the gender pay gap even exists, advocating a national abortion ban, and opposing efforts to cap families' child care costs.\n\nBrilliant strategy for winning Maricopa County, Blake.https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1524447329188823041\u00a0\u2026— Colin Seeberger \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Colin Seeberger \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1652294189
Guess what, my girlfriend is a fisherman in Alaska, I sit in an upholstered chair all day and make more money than herhttps://twitter.com/VaughnHillyard/status/1524450326308347904\u00a0\u2026— graham \u01a8tephen\u01a8on (@graham \u01a8tephen\u01a8on) 1652368271
And many women shared their own experiences of being paid less than their male counterparts for the same work.
I started my job at the same time as a male coworker. I did more work, was better at the job, and had better hospitality. Yet he was paid more an hour than I was.. I've been overlooked for positions that I wasn't considered "suitable for".— Alisha Marie (@Alisha Marie) 1652330909
I talked with a friend this morning who is a tenured professor at a public university. All of the women in her department were hired at lower salaries than the men who had similar or lesser qualifications. She had no maternity leave for any of her three children.https://twitter.com/VaughnHillyard/status/1524450326308347904\u00a0\u2026— SusannaDW (@SusannaDW) 1652371088
Considering that I'm the only female in my department & I make the least & the men in other departments that are similar jobs make at least 15k more I fully disagree. I believe people think men are worth more since they are generally the head of the household which is not true.— Mackenzie Marie (@Mackenzie Marie) 1652316491
The furor over Masters' comments on the pay gap comes on the heels of comments he made last week.
Masters proposed the Supreme Court's draft majority opinion overturning 1973's Roe v Wade be taken even further with states being allowed to ban contraceptives.
Masters is currently polling in third place in the Arizona Republican primary.
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