The Reality of the Gender Pay Gap
Hillary Clinton once said, “We need to make equal pay and equal opportunity for women and girls a reality so women’s rights are human rights once and for all”. The gender pay gap is a real issue. According to a CNN article, it takes women 469 days to make what a man makes in a year (365 days). That means that it would take women 104 days more to reach the salary of her male counterparts. Although women occupy the majority of lower-paying jobs, they are still being paid less than men in those fields. Male teachers, for example, “earn a median of $1,096 a week”, while female teachers make $956, although women hold over 70% of jobs among middle and elementary school teachers. This creates a 13% gap between men and women in these fields. Women in retail sales make 70% of what a man makes, and female lawyers earn 83%.
In the workplace, women are being paid less than men, and it does not matter whether or not they have seniority-the fact still stands that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. In Jana Kasperkevic’s article, “Unequal pay for women: ‘I was told men should make more’”, Jana had told the stories of women who had been short-changed by their employers when they had been less than men they had worked with, and some, even supervised. One of them was Cassandra. Cassandra had graduated with her husband and gotten the same job. During her husband’s interview, he had touched upon the fact that she was being paid $33,000 and, hearing this, his employers had increased his pay to $36,000, just so he could be earning more than she was. They had even told him to start a day before her so that he would always have seniority. Kerri Sleeman is another woman ripped off by the idea that men should be paid more than women. Kerri Sleeman was a design supervisor at a company for five years. When the company was forced into bankruptcy, she had to go through bankruptcy court to get her final paycheck. When she had received her paycheck, she had found out that she was being paid less than men she had been supervising. Although she had been at a higher seniority level than some of these men, she was still paid less.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is an organization that works towards bettering the lives of women and their families, and contributing to women around the world. Beginning in 1881, the AAUW has acquired positions on social, political, educational, economic issues, regarding women. This organization has 1,000 local branches and over 800 university and college partners, with over 170,000 members and supporters around the nation. The AAUW wants to branch out female interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects. To reach this goal, the organization has created programs for girls that focus on STEM education, bringing in more interest among girls and, hopefully, creating a bigger female population in those fields. To help with educational funding, the AAUW has put money towards fellowships and grants for women in all sorts of situations. International fellowships for full-time postdoctoral or graduate study for women who are not permanent residents of the United States, selected professions fellowships for women pursuing careers in which they are underrepresented, or international project grants to be put towards communal projects for the alumnae of the AAUW who have settled in their home countries. The AAUW has given grants and projects to other countries so they can spread the fight for women, not only in the U.S., but around the world. The AAUW has also given opportunities for more outsider participation in this cause. Donations can be made towards the AAUW by going to their website, aauw.org. The AAUW has completed research on many topics relating to women and their place in society. This information can also be accessed on the website.
The gender pay gap is a real issue, but here has to be more awareness about it. We need to empower women to fight for their equal pay instead of just taking it, too afraid to ask for a raise. If a woman is being paid less, she has to be able to ask for equal pay among her and her male counterparts, without worrying about the consequences that may come her way, which is what we need to spend more time teaching girls to do, so they can grow into an equal future and the gender pay gap will not be an issue anymore.
Works Cited
CNNMoney (New York). "78 Cents on the Dollar: The Facts about the Gender Wage Gap." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 13 Apr. 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/13/news/economy/equal-pay-day- 2015/>.
Kasperkevic, Jana. "Unequal Pay for Women: 'I Was Told Men Should Make More'" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money- blog/2014/aug/13/women-equal-pay-gender-gap-stories-work>.