Women's Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America

The myth that women make 78 cents on a man’s dollar is a standard refrain in popular media and serves as a rationale for affirmative action for women. Unstated is that for women and men with the same job and work experience, the wage gap practically disappears. In Women’s Figures, Manhattan Senior Fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth shatters the myth of the wage gap. Women are continuing to gain ground relative to men, and in some cases, they have even reversed the gender gap. Rather than helping women, preferential policies undermine America’s idea of meritocracy, and call into question the value of women’s hard-earned achievements.

From its insouciant title to its incisive reasoning, this volume is a devastating riposte to the feminist faction of the Great American Grievance Industry which, Diana Furchtgott-Roth’s book demonstrates, has been battered by a storm of good news. -- GEORGE WILL, Washington Post

Women’s Figures is a Herculean synthesis of the economic literature on woman’s place in American society, circa 2012. That place is, for the most part, an enviable one, determined by freedom and personal choice. Unfortunately, the feminist lobby spends millions of dollars each year propping up myths and half-truths about women's alleged continuing second-class status. Diana Furchtgott-Roth politely, methodically, and persuasively knocks it all down—and supplies up-to-date charts, statistics, and interpretation on the wage gap, the glass ceiling, the “feminization of poverty,” and much else. The new, reality-based feminism starts here. -- Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys

Diana Furchtgott-Roth has authored an important and accessible study which delves into the
issue of gender equity and fairness in the workplace. Her encouraging conclusion—that women don't need special treatment to get ahead—is plainly common sense now and yet provocative as it challenges some pervasive media assumptions and political agendas. This volume should be required reading for anyone concerned about fair wages and a competitive American workforce in the 21st-century economy. -- Hon. Elaine L. Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor 2001-2009