Gender Pay Gap Persists

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2012/10/24/gender-pay-gap/1652511/

Gender Pay Gap Persists

The article describes and summarizes the topics we have been talking about in class this past week. The gender pay gap is a reoccurring issue around the world and it was not a hard topic to find an article about. Women tend to pick college majors and careers that pay less. They also tend to work less hours then men. The article says, “Today, women still tend to enter lower-paid fields such as education and social sciences, while men typically major in engineering and computer science.” This contributes to the inequalities women face in the pay gap with men. What doesn’t make sense is how such a significant gap still exists between genders since they implemented the Equal Pay Act 1963.“If a young man and woman fresh out of college with the same degree walk into a large firm, typically, the man can get placed in higher-wage jobs than the woman,” says Heidi Hartmann, president of the Institute for Women's Policy Research. That is a scary thought for me and other current female college students. The fact that I am working towards a college degree and may still be discriminated against just because I’m a girl is intimidating. No one wants to hear that a man applying for a job with the exact same credentials as them has a better chance at landing a job just because of our gender. The article also says that employers are sometimes willing to negotiate pay, but women are less likely to try and negotiate it to begin with. Men obviously benefit from this form of discrimination and even though women are starting to close the distance in the pay gap, it still exists. I am proud to say that I don’t contribute to this problem because I work hard for what I want regardless of any gender discrimination I might face. I was fortunate to grow up with a mother that worked really hard and landed a great job out of college. She is extremely successful and a high paying business executive. I remember she would tell me when I was growing up, that she was always the odd one out in her business meetings because more often than not, she was the only female in the room. Now that I’m taking this class and we address these topics, I see exactly what she was talking about. The inequality in the workforce is still present and the pay gap still exists as much as people like to believe it is a problem of the past. I think women need to continue to challenge the system by choosing majors and careers that pay higher. Eventually they could close the gender pay gap entirely. 

Immigrant Children Study

After reading Lessons From The Field: Female Farmworkers and the Law, which was about how poorly some migrant farm workers are treated one question came to mind, is it really worth it? The long hours, low pay, crammed conditions makes you wonder why they decided to stay and work in these conditions. I decided to do a little research and found a recently published study on how successful the children of immigrant parents are currently. This study done by Pew Research has found that the children “In all the ways our country measures how well you’re doing, the second generation is doing very well". These parents are making supreme sacrifies for the future of their children. This article goes on to state that "Hispanics and Asian-Americans, who make up about half of that group, place more importance on hard work and career success than the general public". After reading and thinking about this study I realized these children see how bad things could be, how a life in poverty changes how you experience life and therefore they work hard to make all their parents hard work worth it. Most American born children take what they have for granted, they expect things to be handed to them in some ways, I believe that is a main reason that these second generation immigrants are succeeding in the United States.

PEW STUDY
Pew Social Trends

Immigrant domestic worker exploitation.

           After reading “Undocumented Latinas: The New Employable Mother” I was shocked by the stories of abuse and extortion. I had no idea how man immigrants were being oppresses within our own homes. I had always known that the pay of nannies and house cleaners where minimal. And that the majority of these workers are immigrants. But it was surprising to find out that many of them get paid far below minimum wage. In some cases they are even the victims of sexual assault. This new information has intrigued me to further my learning on the topic. I found the Article Invisible Workers, Global Struggles in the online journal.

            I find it very sad that and employer that was exploiting a young undocumented domestic worker chose to file murder charges when the child of the employer died. I do not understand how the employer expected the young to know how to care for a young child without proper training. The ever more upsetting part of the story was that the girl was executed for her crime. The Saudi Arabian legal system is far too strict. It is not fair to kill a young immigrant worker for incorrectly doing her job. I think it should be the responsibility of the parent to hire a qualified person to care for their child.

            It is unsettling to know that there are such few laws governing child care in other countries. It is far too easy to fake documentation and pose as a qualified domestic worker. These workers are not provided with adequate pay or protection from abuse from the employer. There needs to be legal reform in the countries that allow these practices to continue. The employers of such domestic workers need to be held accountable for this extortion.

 

Web site of article: http://prospect.org/article/invisible-workers-global-struggles

 

-DP 

Wage Gap: Choices VS Gender

               Women have always been at what seems to be a disadvantage when it comes to men. I am here to prove that wrong. Women are fierce. Women are powerful. Most importantly, women are equal. We strive to bluntly point out all that is wrong in life- it comes all too natural. There are far too many unions and protests going on surrounding this idea that women are being paid at a lesser rate than men. This is upsetting! Clearly, there must be some underlying truth as to why this is going on. As a women, this urges me to look into the matter even more.                                                          

           

              This past week, we have been taught that women are only paid around seventy-seven cents to every dollar that men make. This wage gap, though it has lessened over the years, still decreases the yearly salary for the female population. This form of oppression can be explained by Learned Liberty's Youtube video, Do Women Earn Less than Men?

               Factors including human capital, education, experience, knowledge, and job skills are associated with the type of occupations individuals possess. The concept of women baring children and having to raise a family is an enormous factor in salary range. "Pink Collar" jobs, or the unpaid labor associated with housework, is often dominated by the women in the household. As shown in the video, most women tend to take part-time jobs over full-time. This allows for more time to manage a household, a family, or any duties that need taken care of regarding "women work" (i.e. grocery shopping, gardening, etc.). All of these side jobs take away from a woman's relationship with her job. She is not distracted by outside factors, but the effort being put towards a high-paid occupation decrease immensely.      

               My mother was an employee of Wells Fargo for numerous years prior to me and my sister's birth. She made a sufficient amount of money and overall felt very happy at work. The giant interference with work and her "pink collar" duties at home left her unemployed all through my childhood and my brother's birth as well. When my mom went back to look for work, there were none that allowed enough flexibility for her to keep family as her first priority. Ultimately, she ended up taking an aid position within one of the school district's medically fragile classrooms. Family is important; we can all understand that from one degree to another. My mother, my poor mother, saw a massive decrease in her salary... making our lives a bit more stressful. However, we are not alone. Majority of school nurses, administration, teachers, custodial staff, and lunch staff are female! After all, the position of "lunch staff" is more or less referred to as "lunch ladies"! It honestly seems like the most suiting job when you are trying to find compatible hours to that of your children's.  

               All of these things create a sense of oppression that might not even be there. I fully believe in capability ranging person-to-person, though I have to argue against the stereotype of women making less money than men do. I very much agree with Learned Liberty's video. Not only do I feel less handicapped (and almost fearing) for my future, but I now understand that my salary will not be cut simply because I am female. I feel reassured, as I hope most other women do!

Hypocritical Girls Who Demean the Goal of Equality with Gender Roles

Girls That Piss Me Off by Jenna Marbles

“But they turn around and they have these old-ass gender roles where they’re looking for their 'knight in shining armor' and the guy is supposed to pay for the first meal, the guy is supposed to pay for everything. The guy is supposed to take care of them.”

“How can you expect to be treated as an equal and complain about double standards when you hold the biggest double standard of all?”

“And for you to just expect a guy to buy you shit just because you were born with a vagina is absolutely out of control.”

“I mean girls if that’s your thing—if you’re looking for a guy to take care of you for the rest of your life then fine go for it…But don’t sit around and complain to the rest of us how no one wants to buy you shoes and clothes because you have tits and a vagina unless you want to be treated like a pair of tits and a vagina.”

These are a few of the lines which Jenna Morsey of YouTube has for women who want equal rights and yet hold onto old gender role requirements such as the man paying for the first meal and buying them presents. In my own personal opinion, I feel that not all women who want equal rights hold onto such roles, but I absolutely agree with this vlogger on the concept of equality being distorted by gender roles. The tolerance of these double standards and expected gender roles on BOTH sides of the spectrum should be re-evaluated. Responsibility should be taken on both sides. Men should re-evaluate the concept of respecting women as individuals and not as objects of sexual pleasure, and women should stop reinforcing gender roles with old traditions of being taken care of by the man. In class we have discussed the subject of women in the workforce and the gender wage gap. I find that this video exemplifies that with its discussion of the economy and the hypothetical situation of a higher-earning woman dating a lower-earning man and reversing the role of breadwinner. Now granted this does not answer all questions nor negate the importance of gaining wage equity for all. But it does address the responsibility of women to uphold the respect they should have for themselves as individuals by treating men as their equals when it comes to finances.

“But Cassie,” you say, “that makes no sense when women make less than men.” I will give you that, however, in treating yourself as though you are more than what society sees your worth as and portraying the concept of financial equality through gender equality, standards can even out. Rosa Parks sat in the front of a bus and would not move, even though the societal standard at that time was for her to give up her seat for a white person. By acting against her role and acting as an equal, she was one of a few who started an incredible series of boycotts and protests which eventually changed the world.

So the next time you and a guy go out to dinner, start the revolution of equality and split the bill. 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ7wT4CUprQ

Just Give Us the Pill and No One Gets Hurt

Current Event Link: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/20/15314352-birth-control-pills-shouldnt-need-prescription-docs-say?lite. 

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says that increasing access to women’s birth control will result in a huge number of unplanned pregnancies. Because of this, the ACOG is saying that birth control should be given over the counter. A patient should not need a prescription to get them. Some are worried that the side effects can run rampant without being monitored. Others also say that women who should not take the pill might do it anyway. Despite that, the ACOG believes that it is worth it to keep unintended pregnancies from happening. Obviously, if the drug is given over the counter the price will decrease and the pharmacy companies will lose money. The ACOG asks others to think about the outrageous costs that unintended pregnancies cause and that the reduction in price of the drug would help balance it out. This subject is important to us because it helps explain what we should be standing up for. This is a clear example of how the governmental institutions are taking advantage of the fact that we are women and our restricted our basic health rights. 

Women are being denied basic rights that men wouldn’t be denied. In the lectures from this week we are discussing how women’s reproductive rights are put on the back burner. This is a part of that androcentrism we have speaking of. There is a male centeredness in which men’s bodies are considered to be the norm. In fact, I bet that if men had to take birth control that it would be available over the counter already. Our society (whether we know it or not) is more concerned with what is happening to the male body than the women’s. Then there is medicalization in which normal functions of the body are seen as a disease. Menstruation is one example. Pregnancy is another. Condoms are proudly displayed in the drug store, but birth control you have to get over-the-counter. It is seen as something shameful when a woman is having sex and not necessarily when a man is having sex. It’s ridiculous.

All of this leads back to the cycles of oppression. Because it is ingrained in our head from the very start we do not even think about birth control only being given by a doctor. You just know that as a woman you need to do so. This has been well crafted by the governmental institutions, the media, everyday people, and the pharmaceutical company. Then we buy into it because our parents did before us. They are telling us that birth control is shameful and that if we need it we need to go consult a doctor. This is ridiculous. The reason women had to go to the doctor for birth control back in the day is that they wanted doctors to shame women into believing that they were sluts for taking the drug. Those days need to be long over. No more oppression needed here. 

It would be so simple to give us that freedom. When we pick up our condoms we can pick up our pill too. It’s funny that both sexes are supposedly responsible for prevention and yet they only provide the men with theirs over the counter. I realize that there are side effects and certain people can’t take the pill. Well okay, but there are tons of these warnings all over non-prescription drugs and that doesn’t stop them from selling them over-the-counter. After I read this article and thought about it, I just started getting angrier and angrier. We deserve equal health treatment free of shame as well. In conclusion, just give us the pill and no one gets hurt.

-Rachael Belcher

The Paycheck Unfairness Act

Current Event: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-06-05/equal-pay-women-senate-vote/55400316/. 

In June of last year a Paycheck Fairness Act was proposed and rejected in Congress. This Democratic bill asks for pay equality in the workplace. It would include regulations that make sure that differences in pay are based on abilities and education and not on the person’s gender. It would also allow employees to ask about wages without having any consequences. There is also extra protection in there for sexual discrimination that includes compensatory or punitive damages. This bill failed 52-47 which was no surprise to the Democrats. The Republicans had thus far been against most women issues and they refuse to acknowledge the fact that women are not equal to men in the eyes of the government. This issue is important to us because it reinforces the fact that many people recognize that there is a gender wage gap and many are refusing to see it on purpose. This is a prime example of this kind of mistreatment. 

This week’s lecture has been about the gender wage gap and the major differences between a male worker and a female worker. While this article just focuses on the productive labor and not the reproductive labor, it makes a very good point. It is telling us that we don’t make enough money for us to be considered equal. People need to recognize the fact that women hit the glass ceiling and it needs to be broken through. It has to start in the government but the government is run by white men who serve those who sponsor them. It makes it difficult for women to support a family and especially when they are divorced. It goes to show that it is not just about women picking pink collar jobs. We don’t pick the lower paid job; they just are given to us. After all, women that do the same work as a man are often to be found to make less. 

The governmental institution is causing the oppression through the decisions it makes. By making this decision Congress is saying that women are not that important right now. In fact, it is more important that the small businesses feel safe than if the women feel safe. That actually is said in this article. They didn’t want to burden small business. Sure they didn’t, because guess who owns most businesses? You guessed it, men. The government represents the people but lately it seems as if they are represented the white middle aged male. I’m sorry, did I say lately. We might as well just put on those high lacey collars and sit with our babies on our lap all day. I mean, seriously, this is primitive stuff. Their decisions are a reflection on our country and in this case they are saying that oppression is okay.

This is my train of thought….isn’t America supposed to be based on equality for all? I’m not talking about equality on the surface. I am talking of deep equality for all people regardless of their sex or race. If there is anything that proves that we are not basing any of our governmental decisions on equality it is this bill. What is so sad (and at the time enlightening) about this class is the realization that there have to be more than a billion acts of oppression just in this country. We are all supporting it in what we say and what we do. It is time that we look discrimination in its face and say that it is not okay. This knowledge is nothing if we cannot apply it. Be it oppression at home in our own worlds or oppression out in a large institution like the government things need to be changed. Intelligent people should know better but they don’t. This bill should be passed if for nothing else but to help restore women’s faith in humanity. What we need is support and from the right places. Too bad they are too self-involved that they cannot look outside their box and see those that need help. But who wants to bother with a beggar when they are surrounded by kings?

-Rachael Belcher

Impressions

Many of us are familiar with the `90`s cult classic “Clueless”. The other day it was TV and a scene that came on made me stop and think. One of the characters Ty was obsessing over why a guy did not like her. She made excuses like, “My hips are too big” and “I am too dumb”. This is a dramatic turn from the Ty that we first meet, who was a bubbly and happy character who did not really care about obsessing over guys, but somehow she was taught to care and look at her looks for something the matter with her.

I think that this type of behavior, where women look at their insecurities and vanity to make excuses for why they feel the way they do, is a huge problem in our society and is being embedded into young girls in our society when they are so young. Where does this insecurity come from? Why do we have it? Who teaches us this? I think a huge factor that was discussed in class is that the social media has so much power and influence over the stereotypes that women need to fit into and encourage them through their television shows, advertisements and even toys what they should be like. They start to ignore their ability to be unique and start to form to society`s normative femininity, the idea of how feminine they should perform their gender.

I think another factor is how impressionable young girls are at young ages. When older women that we look up to complain about their looks and weight, the young girls feel that is the normal. It begins to creep into every aspect of their life when young girls start to base their worth off of their looks. Then, when they reach puberty age and they compare themselves to others, they begin to have the same problem Ty does and feel that their insecurities with their looks becomes a huge part of what they base their relationship off of. I know that for me personally I view it as normal to talk about insecurities as a reason to stop me from being who I wanted to be and because I grew up with thinking that it is normal to feel that looks are such an important aspect to who I am,  I do not realize the impression that my conversations with other people might affect my younger siblings and younger cousins who I do not want to have the insecurities I have had to grow up caring about. I think that today`s women have a chance to make a new and stronger generation if we realize that we should always be aware of our actions because we never know if a little girl is looking up to us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ6tNNqgyRg