Women all over the United States are knowingly being paid up to 54 percent less than men for working the same jobs with the same hours just because they are women.
Many believe the wage gap to be a myth thanks to the lack of communication about money throughout the workforce. Unfortunately, the gap is ever present today in most occupations throughout all 50 states.
Best case, women in Washington D.C. are paid up to 91 percent of what men are paid for the same jobs. That means a women will make $0.91 for every $1.00 a man makes.
On the opposite spectrum in Louisiana, for every $1.00 a man makes, women in the same job will only make $0.66.
Women of color experience the wage gap the most. A black woman’s salary stands at 64 percent of what men are paid.
Hispanic women show the largest gap. They make only 54 percent of what white men earn, or $0.54 to every dollar made in the same job positions.
“It frustrates me that I will never be paid as much as a man in the same job,” says an anonymous freshman.
The wage gap is found in nearly every occupation from elementary through high school teachers to standard business jobs and computer programmers.
The pay gap also seems to grow with age. Women can earn up to 90 percent of what men earn until they are 35. After that, women’s wages decline on average to 75 percent of what men earn.
Twitter.com HOW MUCH ARE YOU WORTH? : The female here is showing the theoretical price tag placed on women.
In some cases, a man can make 46 percent more than a woman who is doing the same job just because he is a man.
“I think that it’s ridiculous, man or woman, your gender should not influence your salary,” says sophomore Justin Leff.
Women are not only paid less just for being women, they also have mandatory expenses to tend to each year from menstruation and hygiene to birth control and vitamins, which takes more money out of their pockets.
When talking to people about the wage gap, I was met with mixed reactions.
The standard reaction from men was shock, but it did not seem to bother them. It was not affecting them in any way, so it was an out-of-sight-out-of-mind kind of mentality.
Women, on the other hand, had stronger reactions from annoyance to anger. They all felt it was unfair that they can be paid the same as someone who worked fewer hours at a lower level job.
“It is absolutely disgusting and unfair,” says sophomore Julia Pascal.
Throughout the years, the American government has not come very far in advancing the treatment of women. It is actually legal and the “norm” in finance to pay women less.
A recent study disclosed that the estimated time women will be paid equal to men will be no sooner than when the teens of today are ready to retire.
Without a change, this financial, medical and global injustice involving women will never change.
Since money is such a delicate topic, there is no communication between colleagues and peers, resulting in obliviousness to the injustice.
The unfair treatment to women in America has gone on long enough. America is a role model for other countries – a country that normally makes the first move toward changing the world for the better and becoming up to speed with modern issues. The fact that the inequality in women’s pay has hardly changed in a time period of 100 years is unacceptable.
“It absolutely amazes me that it is 2015 and our wage gap is still as big as it or that it even exists at all. Women, especially women of color, are still being seen as inferior to men and I think it is indescribably unfair,” says sophomore Lauren Pagano.
It is time for America to wake up and start regarding women as their equals.