Don’t you just love it when people don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about?
Take Christopher, for example. Christopher decided to make a painfully ignorant comment underneath a Facebook post by SBS News titled Progress towards economic equality for women in Australia has been wiped out by the coronavirus. And, of course, I had to correct him. (Admittedly, my conversation with him was short and quite tame when judged against some of my previous arguments with stupid people on the Internet, but sometimes it’s best not to fully engage with dickheads.)
SBS News headline: Progress towards economic equality for women in Australia has been wiped out by the coronavirus
SBS News: “For every month that we've seen in the pandemic thus far, we've actually lost a year of women's progress towards economic equality.”
Christopher: I am yet to find a company that pays women less for the same job and same hours worked.
Me: Do you think this is the definition of the “gender pay gap”?
Christopher: Tell me what the definition is then, Rebecca.
Me: You can’t find it yourself? [facepalm emoji] Here, let me do it for you… “The gender pay gap (GPG) is the difference between women’s and men’s average weekly full-time equivalent earnings, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings. It is a measure of women’s overall position in the paid workforce and does not compare like roles.“ More here: https://www.wgea.gov.au/data/fact-sheets/australias-gender-pay-gap-statistics-2020
How many other people think the lack of economic equality for women is simply about women being paid less for doing the same job and hours?
How arrogant do you have to be to argue that the gender pay gap doesn’t actually exist, given that your entire argument rests on an erroneous definition?
I guess what’s so ridiculous about the situation is the fact that Christopher epitomises everything wrong with mansplainers - they actually have no fucking idea but their overwhelming confidence makes up for their lack of intelligence.
Oh, to be a mediocre white man on the Internet.
Oh, and since this interaction took place in a public forum, I haven’t masked Christopher’s identity.