RantCrush Top 5: February 20, 2017

A Utah Republican who is the vice-chairman of the Wasatch County GOP wrote a letter to protest a bill that aimed to address the gender pay gap. In the letter, James Green argued that equal pay for women would be bad for society because men are “the primary breadwinners” and if companies started paying women equally, they would be less likely to stay home with their children.

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He also claimed that it would force companies to lower what they pay men, so they could pay women equally. Lowered salaries for men would force more and more “mothers” into the workforce to be able to provide for their families. That would lead to more job competition for men. That is “bad for families and thus for all of society,” Green wrote. “It’s a vicious cycle that only gets worse the more equality of pay is forced upon us.”

Green faced backlash almost immediately and later wrote another letter to apologize. But it shows that we still have a long way to go to achieve gender equality.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.