The Time Has Come
Today is the 100 Thousand
Poets for Change global event. The idea is for poets, writers, singers,
composers, filmmakers, artists of all kind, to create a piece to bring about
positive change in the world. This is my second year participating in this event.
Here is last year’s submission:
This year I have chosen another topic
that I have started to become passionate about-equal rights for all. I recently
viewed the speech Emma Watson gave to the United Nations. You might recognize her from her role as "Hermione Granger" in the "Harry Potter" movies. Hers was an impassioned
speech for rights for all, and advancing the rights of women. If you would like
to view her inspiring speech, you can watch it here….
This speech was the start of a global
initiative for change called the He for She campaign. Men all around the world
are standing up for women’s rights.
Today I am going to address one of the
topics Emma Watson covered in her speech-the pay gap between men and women.
On a holiday weekend a few weeks ago, I
had taken several movies home from my local library to watch over the long
weekend. One of the movies I got from the library was “Made in Dagenham.” It is
a true story set in Dagenham, England in 1968. The story follows the female
employees of the Ford Motor Company factory in Dagenham. Here is the trailer of
the movie….
As I watched the movie, which is taken
from a true story, I was inspired by the women who fought to be paid the same
as male employees doing the same job. They were successful in their endeavors
and made history in doing so. In thinking about this issue, of wage equality
between men and women, I was taken aback. I thought to myself, “This was in
1968? Women still do not earn the same money as men!”
This, sadly, is indeed true. Currently,
women in the United States earn 78 cents compared to a man earning $1.00.
This means that women earn 78% of what
men make for doing the same job. That's
$10,876 in lost income each year.
*Source: Huffington Post:
This means that women would have to work
60 extra days every year to earn what men earned in the previous year.
*Source: Pew Research Center:
At this current rate, women will not earn
equal pay with men for another 75 years.
*Source: Huffington Post:
This 78% statistic is the pay percentage
of white women; women of color, on average, earn 9% less than white women:
Another factor in the pay wage gap is
education. A woman with a college education earns more than a woman without
one, but will still earn less pay then a man for doing the same job.
The pay wage gap also varies by age. Women in their 20s, often newly out of college, earn more than women in their 30s and 40s.
The pay wage gap also varies by state…
*Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/09/19/the-geography-of-the-gender-pay-gap-womens-earnings-by-state/
Salaries also differ greatly between
industries:
What does the wage gap mean to families?
Mothers who work full time, year round typically have lower earnings than
fathers ($38,000 compared to $55,000), meaning mothers only make 69 cents for
every dollar paid to fathers.
In the United States government, the
majority of Senators and House representatives are male.
The statistics I have shared here are for
the United States. However, the pay wage gap is a global phenomenon….
*Source:
"2013 Gender gap index world map,
Gender Inequality Distribution" by M Tracy Hunter - Own work. Licensed
under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2013_Gender_gap_index_world_map,_Gender_Inequality_Distribution.svg#mediaviewer/File:2013_Gender_gap_index_world_map,_Gender_Inequality_Distribution.svg
What can be done to counteract the gender pay gap? The Global Citizen organization is trying to combat the gender inequality issue….
The United States Department of Labor has
a three step approach to begin to eliminate the wage gap…
In the United States Congress, there was
recently a vote of the Paycheck Fairness Act, to give women equal pay as men. The
vote failed. Apparently, these United States senators voted no…
*Source: http://www.weareultraviolet.org/
In the interest of total disclosure, I
must tell you that I work for a company that pays workers the same
wage-regardless of gender. But I can tell you I know of companies that pay men
with less education more than women with a higher education. I know I am
fortunate to have been female in the United States. I earn a living wage, I can
pay all my bills, I own my own house, my own car, my own small business.
What is really at stake here? Economists
state that enacting gender equality would result in billions of dollars
entering the U.S. economy, which would undoubtedly help the global economy.
The Huffington Post sites that
“…eliminating the gap would mean that a working woman would have enough money
for 1.6 years' worth of food for her family, more than seven more months of
mortgage and utilities payments, 12 more months of rent, or 3,208 additional
gallons of gas. And that's in just one year.”
“Rearranging women into higher-paying occupations would erase just 15
percent of the pay gap for all workers and between 30 and 35 percent for
college graduates.”
Women encompass 58% of the workforce and
83% of single families; however, women are found in only 17-20% of the
government. Without more women involved in politics, I fear the gap will
continue. It makes ethical and moral sense to pay women the same as men for
doing the same job. To continue the gap in wages for women is punitive and
morally wrong. The fact that we were born without male anatomy does not make
women inferior in any way shape or form. Our pay should reflect that. We are one people. We should be treated fairly and equally. The time has come.
“When a woman is underpaid for no other reason than her gender, with
fewer funds for household expenses than a male peer, the purchasing power of
her entire family is compromised.”-Valerie
Jarrett
“The lingering discrepancy in income is unfair and indefensible…”-Ben
Walsh
Resources:
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