function onPlayerReadyVidible(e){'undefined'!=typeof HPTrack&&HPTrack.Vid.Vidible_track(e)}!function(e,i){if(e.vdb_Player){if('object'==typeof commercial_video){var a='',o='m.fwsitesection='+commercial_video.site_and_category;if(a+=o,commercial_video['package']){var c='&m.fwkeyvalues=sponsorship%3D'+commercial_video['package'];a+=c}e.setAttribute('vdb_params',a)}i(e.vdb_Player)}else{var t=arguments.callee;setTimeout(function(){t(e,i)},0)}}(document.getElementById('vidible_1'),onPlayerReadyVidible); Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump,is now working on womens issues in the White House despite having onceforcefully argued against paid maternity leave and equal pay legislation, according to unnamed White House officials cited in aPoliticoreport Thursday night.Miller, 31, will work with Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and senior adviser, on womens issues including family leave and child care, according to Politicos report.In a White House where men named Steve (Bannon, Mnuchin, Miller) essentially outnumber women in the uppermost ranks, its not surprising that a man is working on womens issues.But Millers thinking on womens issues is troubling, as evidenced by anop-ed he wrote in 2005 as a junior at Duke University. InSorry feminists, he claims that the gender pay gap is a myth. Women make less than men,Miller argues, because men work longer hours, choose higher-paying jobs and take on more dangerous work.The pay gap has virtually nothing to do with gender discrimination. Sorry, feminists. Hate to break this good news to you, he writes.The truth is, even in modern-day America, there is a place for gender roles, he adds.I simply wouldnt feel comfortable hiring a full-time male babysitter or driving down the street and seeing a group of women carrying heavy steel pillars to a construction site.The essay reveals a lack of understanding when it comes todecades of researchon economics and gender inequality, although thats not very surprising considering Millers age when he wrote it.In the piece, he argues that closing the pay gap would mean women would have to trade in jobs like housekeeping for night shifts doing road repairs.Like a good many pay gap deniers, Miller says women make less because they choose to ' ignoring the constraints that gender roles put on our choices. For example, our education system encourages boys to study science and math, which lead to higher-paying jobs. And in the work world, the system favors white men white menlike Miller ' in pay and promotions ' over all other demographics. The lack of paid maternity leave also forces women out of the workforce, lowering their pay potential over a lifetime and reinforcing the pay gap.Beyond that, there is research that shows that a pay gap remains, even after you control for the fact that women-dominated fields pay less than male-dominated fields and that women may take longer breaks from the workforce.The truth is, even in modern-day America, there is a place for gender roles.Stephen Miller, in a 2005 op-ed Miller goes farther still in that op-ed, arguing that paid maternity leave ' something that every developed country in the world mandates ' would harm businesses and lead to layoffs. There is plenty of research showing that paid leave actually helps companies lower costs by retaining women ' theyre far less likely to quit jobs, and businesses spend less money hiring and training replacements.At the prompting of Ivanka during the presidential campaign, Trump proposed a paid maternity leave policy of six weeks off for birth mothers. The president seemed to expand on that policy when he mentioned paid family leave during a speech to Congress in February. Nothing has been done on this issue thus far.Ivanka also claimed at the Republican National Convention last summer that her father would work to close the pay gap.Get more news and opinion on gender and economics from Emily Peck in her newsletter. Sign up here. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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