Newsweek Discovers Women Can Buy Homes, Ignores Wage Gap
The story, citing factors like mortgage approval rates and homeownership percentages, paints a cheerful picture. Yet, it conspicuously avoids mentioning the persistent gender pay gap that averages 82 cents to every dollar earned by men (Pew Research, 2022). How 'best' can a state be if women still earn less for the same work, making homeownership a steeper climb for many from the outset? This
framing appears to shift focus from systemic economic inequalities to individual consumer choice, effectively asking women to navigate a rigged game while pretending a helpful map is the solution. One might wonder if the real 'best states' are those aggressively tackling pay disparity and affordable housing, rather than merely measuring how some women manage to overcome the hurdles. It's almost as
if some media prefers to list symptom-free zones instead of identifying the underlying disease. Perhaps next, they'll chart the 'best states for not getting cancer' without mentioning pollution levels.