Equal Pay for Equal Work

The time of year is May of 1869. As we place ourselves into this time of the past, we discover the sheer significance of this moment in history. Two women form the first association for women’s rights, the National Woman Suffrage Association. These women are Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. With the help of other nonconformists, women attained the freedom to vote in the same manner that men do.

President Barack Obama put pen to paper with the issue on April 8. The president signed an executive order forcing federal contractors to be more transparent about what their employees earn and to allow workers to discuss wages. The initiative was in honor of National Equal Pay Day and is aimed at combatting the often-cited statistic that women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn.

For over 110 years, females have been striving for equality in the workplace. These women have been challenging the paradigm that has been laid upon their backs. The question I contemplate is: Why do we still have gender-based issues in 2014?

Women are still placed in this category of the caretakers of our society. In order to belong, women must have a baby on their hips and clothes in the washer, correct? Not exactly. As alcohol and drugs become more prevalent in our culture, we see females stepping up to face the role of the income source in households, because men are more likely to pursue alcohol. I am not saying this in offense to all men, because there are fathers such as mine who don’t fall into this stereotype. However, I can confidently say that I have encountered many peers of mine that view their mothers as the workers in the house. Therefore, caretaking should not be confined to housework when it comes to women.

In 2013, the median weekly earnings for women in full-time management, professional, and related occupations was $973, compared to $1,349 for men. This should not be so. Females should not be deposited on the bottom shelf while men are lifted on a financial pedestal. Something so insignificant as a sex of a person should not determine the fate of one’s pocketbook.

Single mothers across the nation are struggling to keep their lights on and their water running; laboring day in and day out just to keep a roof over their children’s heads. And the people that have hired them would have the audacity to subject them to bias in the workplace?

Once again, a woman makes 77 cents for every dollar a male makes. And, our culture has the nerve to turn our sights and hold no regard to this issue at all.

So, this article is for the single mothers. The college students living off of Ramen noodles and tap water. Every female out there from sixteen to fifty-six who is begging for monetary chains to be shattered. Every woman, youthful and aged who longs to alas obtain those dollars that have been cheated from her.

It is time for cultural paradigms to be broken and for justice to be revealed for all citizens of our nation. Equality has a face that needs to be exposed to the workforce of America.

Do you think gender should reflect the amount on a paycheck? I would enjoy reading your feedback via email. Thank you and God bless.