There’s a lie that marches on like a zombie, stubbornly refusing to die. From Melbourne to Manchester to Memphis, Tennessee, the myth persists, no matter how often actual facts attempt to eliminate it.

Australia’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency claims women earn almost $30,000 less than men each year. Meanwhile, alarmist headlines dominate in the U.S., with exasperated reporters shouting about a 17 percent pay gap. In Europe, it is 13 percent. Recently, Populous, a respected architecture firm, dutifully filed its UK pay gap report, inviting the same tired misunderstanding.

When it comes to pay in the workplace, gender equality, we’re told, is 134 years away. That’s a long time to wait. What, I ask, are women—and society as a whole—supposed to do in the meantime?

How about taking off the tinfoil hat and acknowledging reality?

Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room: The gender pay gap is not about men and women being paid differently for doing the same work. It’s about different jobs, different career choices, and ultimately, different life paths. When men and women with similar experience, working the same roles, are compared, the so-called “gap” shrinks to almost nothing.

But admitting that doesn’t sell outrage, nor does it sell political agendas.

Take the aforementioned Populous report. The firm openly states that men and women are paid equally for the same jobs. The “gap” appears because there are more men in senior positions. This is a reflection of career distribution, not a shady backroom conspiracy. And yet, it’s framed like a sinful scandal, complete with ritual apologies and vague promises to “fix” what isn’t broken.

The Australian figures tell a very similar story. Across industries, men are far more likely to work longer hours, take on riskier or more physically demanding jobs, and stay in senior roles longer without stepping away for family or personal breaks.

These realities—not discrimination—explain most of the raw pay gaps.

But nuance doesn’t trend. Anger does. Anger detached from objective reality, however, can be incredibly corrosive. It creates a culture where grievance becomes a currency, and one far more valuable than truth. It builds entire movements on the foundation of irrational resentment, teaching people that rage—not reason—is the ultimate arbiter of justice. When narratives are fueled by fury rather than fact, they inevitably spiral into division, bitterness, and blind destructiveness.

Men still overwhelmingly dominate the most dangerous, physically grueling, and thankless industries: construction, logging, mining, and waste management. These are the jobs no one wants to think about until society needs a bridge built, a road cleared, or refuse disposed of. Men also suffer far higher rates of suicide, incarceration, homelessness, workplace fatalities, and school dropouts. Where, I ask, is that gap report?

We live in the most unrestrained, opportunity-rich time in human history, especially for women in the West. There has never been a better time to be a woman in Australia, America, Britain, or most parts of Europe. And yes, of course, improvements can and should still be made; no society is perfect. But this is not The Handmaid’s Tale. If in doubt, try to name one thing—one meaningful opportunity—that men can access in 2025 that women cannot.

It’s time to bury the pay gap zombie for good. Not because fairness doesn’t matter, but because honesty matters more. The consequences of these skewed, gender-oriented narratives go far beyond statistical illiteracy and disingenuous reports. By relentlessly framing men as oppressors and women as victims—even when the data tells a different story—these narratives pit the sexes against each other in ways that fracture trust and solidarity. Boys, especially white boys, grow up internalizing the idea that they are inherently privileged villains. Girls are taught to view ambition and happiness as impossible dreams, forever crushed by visible villains and invisible ceilings.

Instead of creating a culture of shared striving, mutual respect, and honest acknowledgment of one another’s challenges, we create a zero-sum battleground where opposite sexes are viewed with suspicion, even disdain.

Socially, such an approach damages relationships. How can you build a healthy marriage, a family, or even a friendship when trust between men and women is consistently eroded?

How can you partner with someone you’ve been taught to resent? These are valid questions to consider, and neither offers hopeful answers. Economically, the gender pay gap myth drives disastrous policies. Resources are directed toward addressing fabricated issues while genuine crises—such as the decline in male educational attainment, the rise of loneliness among both genders, and the increase in youth suicide rates in the UK, U.S., and Australia—are overlooked or discounted.

A culture of permanent grievance will never inspire the next generation to build, invent, or lead. It will only condition them to dismantle, accuse, and despair. A society at war with itself has no future at all as it spends all its energies fighting yesterday’s battles and not preparing for the harsh realities of tomorrow.