STORY BY MATT GLASOW
While we may pretend to treat everyone with the same amount of respect and fairness, these values simply are not reflected in the difference of pay between men and women in the American workforce.
Feminism, equal rights and diversity.
We preach about these terms and their importance everyday, but are we really doing anything to progress toward the goal of true uniformity within our society?
This is an issue that has been hindering America since it became a public issue for women following WWII in the 1940s and has continued into our “progressive” culture today.
A 2014 Forbes.com article presenting statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, claimed women earn on average 77 percent of what males in the workforce earn when working full-time all year long.
With college tuition payments skyrocketing year after year, women have to look even more critically into their decisions to further their education and take in a grander amount of student debt.
Some of the highest paying professions require an extended amount of education (think doctors and lawyers).
With women knowing that this additional hard work in school would result in a lower salary or reward, it can be both discouraging as well as prohibiting the equality between men and women.
In a progressive society, such as the one we are fortunate enough to have here in America, it is pertinent that we close the gaps between genders.
It is only after we do this that we will be able to advance to a more successful nation.
Prosperity comes from the workforce and America needs to equally compensate those that drive us forward in the world’s economy.
Incentivizing equal opportunity emphasizes the determination in the female worker as barriers of inferiority are diminished.
Critics have tried to accuse the gap of being highly driven by the difference in occupations and their incomes between men and women.
However, the same article states that women were found to earn 7 percent less than men in the same field one year after graduating with the same degree.
These numbers come from an article published by the American Association of University Women, released in 2014.
These statistics are supported by a study conducted by Cornell economists Francine D. Blau and Lawrence M. Kahnin.
In their research, they found that approximately 41 percent of the gender wage gap is attributed to “unexplained” reasons.
This means that while part of the 77 percent difference is due to differences in hours worked and overall salary, there is still a chunk of change that is being withheld from women from reasons that cannot be explained rationally.
These disheartening facts regarding women’s compensation are not only sad, they are hurting the trust we have in America.
If we can’t trust each other to adequately reward those who put in an honest days work, how can we trust each other to be citizens of civility and justice?
While it may seem like a gender-specific issue, it’s the principles behind this act of prejudice that hurt our great nation and bring to question the validity of the “United” States of America.
