Give me a break

This article is a textbook case in completely missing the point.

Shorter Pinker: Gender discrimination? What gender discrimination? Women choose to marry high-achieving men and then choose to "opt out", so clearly there's no problem. It's all about love, right?

Yes, women and men of similar socio-economic backgrounds often end up together. Yes, the women then often end up staying home with the kids or taking less-demanding jobs. That's not the explanation for wage disparities -- that's the _problem_. Why is it always women who stay home? Having a high-earning spouse doesn't explain it -- if it did, surely we'd see lots of men opting out because of their high-earning spouses, and we don't. Why is a woman giving up her job as soon as she "can" seen as a given?

This is an issue that's been hashed out extensively by feminists in the past. Women stay home because of institutional sexism that means men continue to have a higher earning potential, and because of societal pressures that say women should be the ones caring for home and children.

You know, I think Michelle Obama is pretty awesome, too. I just don't see her decision to give up her career and become the poster girl of the "opt-out revolution" to be one of the more awesome things about her. It's great that the Obamas obviously love each other. But love isn't the same thing as subsuming yourself to your husband's career.

And I've really had enough of the "women just really want to stay home" meme. It's been old for a while now.