Lawrence W. Reed

Despite the claims of some critics, women do not face discrimination in the workplace, argues Lawrence W. Reed in the following viewpoint. He contends that statistics indicate women have made considerable gains in earning power and wield more power in the boardroom than they did in the past. According to Reed, women have made these advances by attaining college educations, not by relying on affirmative action programs. He asserts that any wage gap is not the result of discrimination but because women make different lifestyle choices from men, largely due to marriage and childbirth. Reed is the president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market research and educational organization.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In 1995, what percentage of bachelor’s degrees was earned by women, according...