Campus Voice
2.92011 1 The Blue Banner 1 15
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Gender pay gap robs women of half a million dollars
Penis envy is appropriate if having
one means earning an extra half a mil
lion dollars in a lifetime.
In 2009, the Department of Labor
' found the average woman earned 77
cents for every dollar a man earned.
Men can buy an extra guraball an
hour. Over time, those quarters add up.
According to the Center for American
Progress, women lose $434,000 on av
erage in 40 years because of the gender
pay gap.
Sexual discrimination in the work
place seems like a problem of the past.
Didn’t women solve that problem when
they burned their bras in the 1960s?
Isn’t that what all the fist shaking and
hairy armpits were about?
It’s the 21st century, but executives
still promote men more than women
and women still have to work more
hours for the same amount of money.
On Feb. 1,8,000 female employees
filed a $100 million lawsuit against
Toshiba’s U.S. business for alleged
discrimination against women. The
lawsuit said Toshiba underpays
females, slows or stops their promo
tions, punishes them more harshly and
ignores their complaints.
All of Toshiba’s board of directors
and executive officers are male. They
said they are not discriminating, but
simply have not found the proper fe
male candidates.
The Equal Pay Act should protect
women from discrimination, but it is
difficult to police such an abstract idea.
Promotions are subjective, and CEOs
can promote as many men as they want
and say the men were simply more
qualified.
Diversity quotas or government
incentives for hiring women create ten
sion because they undermine women’s
value. Women want to be hired based
on performance, not because Uncle
Sam says to put more ladies around the
office.
However, when women’s merit is
overlooked and undervalued, it is a
vicious cycle of unregulated discrimi
nation.
The women studying in college today
expect to graduate and enter a work
place of equal opportunity. Unfor
tunately, the progress we’ve actually
made is less impressive than what we
project.
Armed with an education, we don’t
anticipate that our gender affects our
pay, but the wage gap only increases
with education. Women with a bach
elor’s degree or higher lose about
$713,000 in their lifetime. According
to the U.S. 2010 Census, that is enough
to buy almost three houses at the me
dian price for houses in the U.S.
The problem comes from the people
in power. We are waiting for the para
digm to truly shift instead of projecting
an illusion of progress.
Men and women are equal. Most of
us would readily admit gender has no
effect on worth or performance in a
workplace. Yet, women are still under
valued.
They are paid less, restricted to low-
paying positions with little chance of
promotion. Women are more concen
trated than men in part-time positions,
which do not qualify for health care
benefits and often offer inconsistent
hours.
In retail, women, on average, make
64 cents per dollar that a man makes.
This is equivalent to the wage gap of 30
years ago. Now, that is progress.
In 2001, a group of women filed a
lawsuit for general sexual discrimi
nation against the retail supervillian
Wal-Mart. They accused Wal-Mart
of paying women less and promoting
fewer women, more slowly, to manage
ment positions than men.
In December, the U.S. Supreme
Court agreed to take the case. It will
decide if Wal-Mart is too large to be
held accountable for the company-wide
discrimination.
The women prepared statistical
evidence of the large pay gap and the
higher concentration of men in manage
ment positions and anecdotal evidence
of male managers making snide com
ments, inluding telling a woman that
she belonged in the kitchen, barefoot
and pregnant.
If the Supreme Court sides with Wal-
Mart, the women will not receive any
compensation for the discrimination.
This is the opportunity for the Supreme
Court to acknowledge the inequality,
compensate the employees and take
preventative measures to limit future
discrimination.
Each person has their own strengths
and weaknesses.
A certain woman may be an asser
tive leader. A particular man may have
excellent people skills. These traits
come from their individuality, not their
gender.
A vagina should not be a set back.
The Blue Banner Editorial Board
Karpen Hall 019 (828) 251-6586 www.thebluebamer.net
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