There's still a Pay Gap in 2014...

Everyday the question arises in my head as to how people can honestly think men and women are equal. With the sexualization of women it makes it hard for us as a whole to become equal with men in the workplace. Although women have been granted some baby steps to be equal to men there really have not been any large leaps. For example, the pay gap has not moved in a decade. From the years 2002-2012 women were still being paid 77% of what their male coworkers were making. That statistic goes up to the year 2012 because in 2013 the pay gap increased making the gap larger! However, now in 2014 the gap has decreased and women make up to 78% of what their white male coworkers make.

This is not even as bad compared to women of color who get paid even less than their white coworkers. Latina or Hispanic women make 54% of their male coworkers. Native American women make 59%. African American women make 64%. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women make 65%.

This past year every republican voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act. This is the fourth time since 2012 that republicans have voted against the act that would allow an equal pay for women. The reason in which they voted against the bill was because it makes it easier to sue corporations over allegations of pay inequity. However, there is a pay inequity now. If the bill were to be passed women who have the same qualifications, and experience as their male coworkers would get paid the same and there would not be any need to sue.

 

Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU senior legislative counsel and co-chair of the National Paycheck Fairness Act Coalition, said that, “Pay equity is not a partisan issue, and paying women what they have already rightfully earned is good for them, for the nation’s economy, and for American businesses’ bottom lines. The fact that the Senate finally allowed debate on equal pay is a step in the right direction, but women workers need more than words when the next Congress takes up the Paycheck Fairness Act.”

Women are faced with this pay gap in almost every occupation. We have increased our presence in higher paying jobs but as a whole are still working lower paid occupations. It is 2014 and we are still fighting for basic civil rights. Not much has changed in the past few decades.