Despite Wages Growing Faster For Women Than Men, North Dakota Dems Touting "War On Women"

It seems that North Dakota Democrats want to bolt national liberal talking points about the “war on women” onto local politics here in North Dakota. Case in point, this recent press release accusing Rep. Kevin Cramer of an “extreme, anti-woman ideology.”

“It is just as wrong today as it was in 1963 for women to earn less than men for the same work, but instead of working to solve the problem, Congressman Cramer is stuck in an extreme ideology that will block any progress,” said Emily Bittner of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Congressman Cramer and his House Republican leaders must stop obstructing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would put more money in the pockets of middle class families. The women of North Dakota deserve a representative who will stand up for their equality in the workplace, not one like Congressman Cramer who stands in the way because of extreme ideology and an anti-woman agenda.”

Maybe North Dakota Democrats need to get their heads out of Washington DC, and start paying attention to what’s actually happening here in North Dakota. Thanks to a roaring economy, salaries for women were up 22% from 2006 to 2011 a rate of growth 21% faster than salary growth for men in the state and 57% faster than salary growth for women nationally:

While men dominate North Dakota’s shale-oil industry, women in the region are starting complementary service businesses ranging from oil-well geology to occupational testing to day-care and medical clinics. “There are great opportunities for women,” says Kathy Neset, 57, president of Neset Consulting Service. “Whatever skill you have, we need it in western North Dakota.” Neset and her husband founded the geological services company in 1980 in Tioga, which is in the northwest part of the state. More than one-fifth of its 180 employees are women. Neset regularly gives presentations at elementary and middle schools in the upper Midwest, encouraging girls to pursue careers as geologists, where salaries range from $80,000 to $140,000 a year. …

Salaries for women employed full time in North Dakota jumped 22 percent from 2006 to 2011, to $32,500, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, compared with a 14 percent increase for women’s salaries nationwide. Male employees in the state saw a 17 percent increase over that period, to $45,439.

Recently North Dakota Democrats added a resolution to their party platform which stated that women face “emergent danger” in North Dakota “by simply being women in this state.”

If women in North Dakota are in danger of anything, it’s becoming more prosperous. More prosperous, that is, thanks to an oil boom that North Dakota Democrats have very much wanted to hamstring with higher taxes and unnecessarily tough regulation.

Meanwhile, here’s Rep. Kevin Cramer speaking during a hearing in the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee focused on the Offshore Energy and Jobs Act (which would increase offshore energy exploration and production).

“Let me say on behalf of the citizens of North Dakota, ‘You’re welcome.’”