Ridiculous New Gender Equity Policy Institute Report Finds ‘Gender Inequality’ Burdens Women

The Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) has a new report claiming California women are burned out because they do more work than men due to an “imbalance in the division of unpaid labor in the home.”

Their headlines, “New Report Reveals California Women Do More Work, Have Less Free Time Than Men. First-of-Its-Kind Analysis from Gender Equity Policy Institute Shows Women’s ‘Free Time’ Is Anything But Free,” made me want to put on 60 Minutes with The Sad Violin.

“The scale of the gender disparities are staggering,” they say, and that “this imbalance in the division of unpaid labor in the home shapes how the remaining time can be spent, contributing to the free-time gender gap.”

“This report builds on GEPI’s national study released last year on the free-time gender gap, which has been featured in national media, including in a column in The Atlantic and a New York Times article on women having less free time to exercise than men.”

These poor California women. They have less free time to exercise? What kind of oppressors must they be married to?

“Moreover, women in California spend more time on work than men, once unpaid childcare and household work in the home is added to the time spent in paid employment,” the Gender Equity Policy Institute says. ¹ The citation says, “A test of ATUS data (American Time Use Survey) showed no substantial differences on relevant time use variables across the pooled years. See the Methodology for a detailed explanation of the data analysis.”

The methodology reports “the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating gender equality in the United States through data-driven applied research, strategic advocacy, and policy development. Our mission is to rebalance systems, guarantee equal benefits and opportunities, and secure a just and sustainable future for all people.” [emphasis the Globe]

That mission is grossly flawed. Have they not heard of the women’s movement? The feminist movement? The National Organization of Women? The fight for women’s suffrage?

Do they know that women make up half of the California Legislature?

And if the Gender Equity Policy Institute is so concerned about California women, how about those living on California’s streets, mentally-ill, addicted to drugs? Women who have a job, home, and family may have busy lives, but they have a job, a home and a family. The women living on the streets could use some attention from the Gender Equity Policy Institute.

Also notable from the methodology: “GEPI could not analyze how responsibilities were shared within households, or the distribution of time use between couples or cohabitating adults.”

It’s not a challenge to conclude that GEPI found a lot of disagreeable women to fill out their survey. Complaining about having to take care of the family while also working outside of the home is trite. Yes they are busy. Sometimes crazy. But married women have partners, and today’s husbands are great partners, raised to share in the family much more than many of their fathers or grandfathers did.

More from the Gender Equity Policy Institute report:

California prides itself on being a progressive state, but GEPI’s analysis tells a more complex story that illustrates just how deeply entrenched cultural gender norms in our society are, and why meaningful action is needed to reverse them.

Not those deeply entrenched cultural gender norms!

• California women spend twice as much time as men taking care of children.
• California fathers spend time on household work and childcare, but a lot less.
• Mothers put in nearly double the hours fathers do. It’s the equivalent of a full-time job, but one that doesn’t come with a paycheck or vacation time.
• Even on workdays, women end up doing an extra hour of housework and childcare above and beyond what men do—and
• When you add up all the paid and unpaid labor, women in California work significantly more hours per week than men
• All women in California have less free time than men, but moms have the least.
• Compared to fathers, California mothers have 41% less free time.

Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating women’s equality in the United States through data-driven research, strategic advocacy, and policy development. Our mission is to rebalance systems, guarantee equitable opportunity, and secure a just, healthy, and sustainable future for all people, they say on Guidestar..

According to the Gender Equity Policy Institute Guidestar profile:

General population|

Academics|

Pregnant people|

People with disabilities|

Justice-involved people|

People living in urban areas|

People living in rural areas|

Economically disadvantaged people|

Gender identity, sexual orientation, and sex characteristics.

This feels like a report in search of a problem.

The GEPI report is another “gender inequality” publication claiming that children witness “gender inequity” at homes, that mothers bear the brunt of meals, caregiving and chores resulting in unequal responsibility for parents. 

What about gay couples? Is there gender inequality and unequal responsibility in those homes?

How about stay-at-home-moms or stay-at-home-dads? Is that gender inequality or unequal responsibility in those homes?

What this study as well as the Gender Equity Policy Institute obfuscates is that women have God-given powers: compassion, leadership, influence, intervention, nurturing, wisdom, submission, courage. We can be powers for good, or for evil. But women are not victims as the Gender Equity Policy Institute would have you believe.

This is just more grievance hustling in search of a problem.