Women and Equal Pay

For the majority of my life, I never thought that equal pay would be a problem. I didn’t know that it was not happening. When I was in elementary school, my history classes were emphasizing that the United States of America was really the Land of the Free and that everyone was treated equally. I was excited to be an adult, I was excited to go past the hallways and be in breakrooms chatting it up with my colleagues, I was tired of playing tag on the jungle gym. Growing up, we are all encouraged to be someone — a teacher, astronaut, dancer, firefighter — whatever, but when it comes down to the actual numbers, is there something for us women?

For awhile now, I’ve been reading articles and posts about women in the workforce. I always thought, “hey, we are making it big out there with the boys!” The key words here are “with the boys”. There was never a doubt in my mind that the gender wage gap existed and I definitely did not know that women do not make as much as men. I came across an article one day on the Huffington Post stating that a woman makes around 70 cents to a man’s dollar and I was intrigued. Why? Was there a legitimate reason?

Turns out, as I continued reading, the blame for the gender wage gap is because women can get pregnant. Being pregnant takes a woman away from their work to care and tend for their future baby. At first, I thought this made sense, and then I realized that we had maternity leave, which for the most part is NOT paid. So now I’m stuck thinking how this makes any sense at all. Being a woman, being a natural born giver, is not something that can be used as at our disadvantage. Being a parent is no reason to give someone less pay.

Education was also not a reason why women are paid less than men. There are women working with men with the same years in school, the same degree, and the same experience, yet their male counterparts are still making more than them.

Underpaying employees is illegal. There should be no such thing as a gender wage gap. There are several laws stating that workplaces are not allowed to discriminate against their employees. So, why is it still happening? How come these businesses are not afraid of being tracked down by the government?

I want equal pay. I don’t want it for my own selfish reasons, but I want it because I deserve it — every women deserves it. Throughout history, women have fought for their rights to be where we are today. I want my future daughters to be treated with the respect that men have always had since day one. I want my future granddaughters to feel that they are able to be financially stable if one day they find themselves alone with three children. The gender wage gap should be not exist because women are like men, only we have the choice of giving life to others and that is not a loss, it is a gift.

Of course, I am not blaming men for the problem at our hands. It is a group effort to change the ways we are living in now. This is just a fight for what’s right. Just a simple, small revolution with a nine month plan to succeed.