As I'm sitting here in my Technical Writing class, I'm half listening to my professor talk about Fonzie and half reading an article on The Huffington Post. When I saw the headline, I couldn't help but click on the post to find out what the damage was. Every year, the U.S. Census conducts a survey and releases information that they've gathered on the pay gap between male and female employees along with other financial reports. As the article was opening, I was hoping...praying...every finger crossed...that there had been an improvement in the gap.
Well, this wasn't the case, and I was led to a disappointing read. According to the recently released U.S. Census income data, the Gender Pay Gap hasn't had a significant change since 2007, when the gap was sitting at 79 percent. So, in almost 10 years, our country, which has seen so many gender equality movements and laws passed, has managed to improve the pay gap by 1 percent. 1 more cent to the dollar. If you're looking for congratulations from me, you're most certainly not going to find one. For crying out loud people, it's 2016. How does it make sense that a woman would be paid 80 percent of what a man is receiving for the exact same work?
So naturally, me and my nosy self started looking further into the statistics that accompanied this report. One piece of information that I found actually made my jaw drop. Women in the workplace ask for pay raises just as often as men do, but here’s the kicker: they are 25 percent less likely to get them, according to an article found on Slate.com. Again, this brings up the question of why a man’s work is worth more than a woman’s? It doesn’t end at a differential between salaries. Women are losing out on promotions and job opportunities, and many researchers are now looking into how young boys are taught to be more aggressive than girls, who are taught to be more domestic. This ideal has been carried into the workplace where men have been known to assert dominance.
I worry that the young ladies of my generation and those to come will have a negative mindset that females aren’t good enough, smart enough or worthy of equality. As a sophomore in college, unsure of what my future holds, this idea haunts me. Every day I work hard towards earning a degree in a field I love but have been condemned by society to make less financially than my male counterparts. I was reading an article about celebrity women such as Beyonce, Jessica Alba, and Jennifer Lawrence, promoting equal pay, saying it was a brave topic, but it should be a common topic that is consistently argued over until there is a change. Women should not have to work harder, wear more makeup, dress more feminine or struggle to be noticed by their employers because they should be treated as equal for doing the job they’ve been given. We as women must take to heart that our pay does not equal our value.
