A new video obtained by NBC News shows Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters disputing the existence of a gender pay gap while insisting that men earn more because they do the “risky” and “most dangerous jobs.”
In the video, recorded at a candidates forum in Scottsdale on Feb. 4, Masters makes the claims as he argues against the need for the Equal Rights Amendment, a measure that would constitutionally prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.
“Women are not paid less in America than men,” Masters says. “It’s a left-wing narrative, this gender pay gap. When you control for the occupations, when you control for people taking time out to, you know, birth children, things are actually pretty equal. And men do the most dangerous jobs.”
He continues: “Men are the ones who are doing risky, you know, fishing crab in Alaska. And sometimes those jobs pay more. Sometimes those jobs pay more, and so I think we got to push back on the fake left-wing narrative that women don’t have equal rights in this country.”
The Masters campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Numerous studies have analyzed the gender pay gap in the U.S. between male and female workplace counterparts. A Census Bureau report in 2020 detailed federal data showing the comparative earnings of men and women over the last five decades.
Masters, in a crowded, competitive primary field, is vying for the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. His candidacy has received significant financial backing from Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist who has also aided Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance’s campaign in Ohio.
