For Fox & Friends, Gender Pay Inequality And Need For Title IX Are Just Myths

A predictable mix of falsehoods and sexist stereotypes resulted when two male Fox figures attempted to debunk “gender myths” like the gender pay gap, female versus male drivers, and the need for Title IX to support women's athletics.

Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy welcomed Fox Business' John Stossel on August 8 to ostensibly debunk common gender myths. Doocy opened the segment by asking if the differences between boys and girls are so clear, “why are the feminists still pushing gender equality?”

Doocy and Stossel first attempted to tackle the gender pay gap. While admitting that it is true women are paid 77 cents for each dollar men make, Stossel claimed the discrepancy is because, “we don't work the same jobs.” The reason, according to him, is that “women have their priorities in order. They often choose jobs that are less time-consuming, not so far away, and not as dangerous.” He concluded that if a true pay gap existed, the market would have sorted it out.

The pair ignored the central fact that the gender pay gap measures discrepancies in pay for an equal amount of work. As of 2011, “women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 77 percent of what men were paid, a gap of 23 percent,” a report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) found. And as the Institute for Women's Policy Research explained, “Women's median earnings are lower than men's in nearly all occupations, whether they work in occupations predominantly done by women, occupations predominantly done by men, or occupations with a more even mix of men and women.”

When it came to driving records, Doocy and Stossel did acknowledge that on average, men behind the wheel are more likely to run stop signs, speed, and kill other people. But these statistics did not stop the two from laughing that women are “clearly” worse drivers than men, in part because “they can't maneuver as well.”

Back in May, Fox & Friends dedicated more than 13 minutes and multiple segments to questioning whether women can drive or park well.

Last, the men discussed “the myth that Title IX allowed women to play sports in college.” Stossel took the stance that without Title IX, which prohibits colleges and universities from discriminating based on gender, this “would have happened anyway.  Because at the time, when they passed this, women couldn't get credit cards without a man's signature. Women weren't going to bars alone, or allowed to smoke socially. Life would have changed.” Stossel concluded that the law pretends just as many women want to play sports as men do, but “they don't. More men do.”

In reality, when Congress passed Title IX in 1972, roughly one in 27 girls, or four percent, participated in sports, according to The New York Times. Just six years later, that number had exploded to 25 percent. Today, roughly one in three girls plays a sport. This increased participation rate is “proof,” according to the National Women's Law Center, “that interest often reflects opportunity.”

Fox has already sparked outrage this summer with its gender comparisons: In May, host Lou Dobbs called a rise in families with female breadwinners a sign of society's downfall, and paid contributor Erick Erickson added that “biology” and “the natural world” evidenced that men, not women, should hold that “dominant role.” 

Click below for Stossel and Doocy's full “debunking” attempt.