There are questions that keep coming up year after year. Like why do women STILL earn less than men? Currently 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. And why, when women climb the corporate ladder, is the percentage earned on the dollar even worse? The last time I checked it was around 44 cents for every dollar earned by a man.
A short sighted, but obvious, reason for the discrepancy in pay is because people who profit under this system want it to continue. And those people are, for the most part, affluent, white, presumed to be heterosexual men.
These guys have been making money off the backs of women and people of color since the creation of our “more perfect union.” Which suggests we need to do a lot more work to make that promise a reality.
When women earn less than men everyone suffers.
The single woman, who doesn’t get a break on her rent or grocery bill because she earns less.
The single mother, trying to provide a home for her children, who doesn’t get a break on the cost of school clothes or books.
The wife, or partner, who is only able to contribute 77% (compared to her husband/partners 100%) to the household income, because she earns less.
And PLEASE don’t try and tell me it’s because women don’t WANT to earn more. We (women) have heard that lame argument for decades – and it simply is not true.
The 77% is based on women who work full time. They are women, like me, who MUST work to either provide for themselves or contribute to their household income. Face it, the men running this country have really fucked things up to the point where everyone living in a household NEEDS to work to survive. We barely have a middle class any longer.
I’ve been trying to get my two dogs to get a paper route or something, but so far neither one is biting. And maybe that’s a good thing, because who wants a dog that bites.
The point here is that EVERYONE needs to be advocating for pay equity, and one way you can DO that is by contacting your Senators and urging them to PASS the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
It only takes a few seconds to make a difference that could last a lifetime!
3 comments:
Excellent points, BAC!
Great points.
You're right on the money. Equal pay for equal work by equally qualified people is the way it needs to be. Anything less is just wrong and should be criminal.
People shouldn't be evaluated on anything other than qualification and performance.
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