Consider the gap in spending equity

Consider the gap in spending equity

On July 24, Audra Wilson penned a column to the Daily Herald, claiming women only earn 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. Let's further examine this.

According to the James Chung research group, never-married, childless women who work full-time and live in large metropolitan areas make $1.08 for every dollar a man earns.

This shows that women overall make less money than men do not because of overt discrimination, but rather for reasons of lifestyle choices.

Furthermore, after divorce, men more often than women have spending obligations such as child support, maintenance, mortgage payments on a home he no longer lives in or apartment rental for a new place to live.

And even though it's 2019, men are still expected to pay for dating.

This is called the spending equity gap. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, female-headed households are worth 141 percent of male-headed households.

Finally, I knew of a police officer who worked for over 30 years and couldn't retire because his ex-wife kept taking him back to court for more money. And I have a friend who pays his ex-wife $14,000 a month in maintenance.

It's clear that the spending equity gap between men and women is more important than the pay equity gap is.

Craig Parcells

Lincolnshire