This piece was originally published in The Detroit News on January 1, 2020.
Last week, as children tore into their Christmas presents, some young girls may have received the new game by Hasbro, Ms. Monopoly.
On the box, in the place of the traditional monocled Mr. Monopoly, the game features a brunette Ms. Monopoly with a slogan printed below: “The first game where women make more than men.”
In Ms. Monopoly, an updated classic from Hasbro, girls start earn 20% more than boys.
While at first glance this may appear to be a fun, educational game for your daughter, you may want to consider finding the receipt and swapping it out for a new game during the after-Christmas sales.
Male players start the game at a disadvantage, receiving less money from the banker than their female competitors. When the players pass “Go,” boys collect the traditional 0 in colored bills, while girls have an automatic advantage of receiving 0. (onni.com)
The uneven playing field is a nod to the notion, often lamented by leftist politicians, of gender wage inequality in our country.
Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like feeding our children leftist narratives, right?
The Ms. Monopoly game is just one example of how the left is winning the messaging of a war on women.
American women are told time and time again that every woman’s pay is inherently unequal to their male coworkers. Women are being fed the lie that they are disadvantaged simply because of their gender.
But this isn’t the truth.
The statistic that women make 80 cents to the dollar compared to men is often cited by leftists trying to appeal to the working woman’s vote. But this stat is misunderstood.
The data comes from the median earnings of women and men in full-time wage and salary jobs taken from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which simply compares the total earnings of women and men across the board, not two people working the same exact job.
By abusing this data, feminist narratives fail to take into account a host of factors, including the types of jobs women pursue or the industries they choose. They also don’t factor in that many women have the privilege in this country to make career choices that benefit their families, taking on less hours and less travel. These choices can lead to different incomes.
Ms. Monopoly does deserve some praise, however, in the fact that this game celebrates the groundbreaking inventions made by women throughout history.
The classic property spots on the board have been switched to things such as chocolate chip cookies, scientific advancements and everyday accessories — all created by women.
Hasbro could have stuck with this female empowerment theme and made a statement that children and parents of all ideologies could support. But sadly, they took it too far. They got lost in the political messaging and missed out on the opportunity to empower young women innovators.
This upcoming year marks the historic centennial celebration of women winning the right to cast a ballot. It would have been a great time for Hasbro to celebrate the progress of women in this country.
It is unclear whether the game is Hasbro’s attempt to seem “woke,” or if the toy-maker genuinely thinks children would enjoy an uneven playing field. Whatever the case, the game will only be successful with Americans who want to perpetuate the flawed pay-gap narrative.
Gabrielle Picard is a senior political science major at the University of Mississippi and a student media fellow with the Network of enlightened Women (NeW).
