Surrounded by a group of smiling women, President Obama promised executive action on reducing the gender pay gap.
According Aamer Madhani, reporter for USA Today, the president encouraged Americans to pressure lawmakers to pass the legislation. The legislation imposes new regulations on how companies pay employees to ensure fair wages regardless of gender (USA Today).
“Today is equal pay day,” said President Obama (USA Today Video).
SALARY.COM
The cries of foul are fueled by the results of 2013 Census. The report found that women earn 23 percent less than men (Census p.13).
I should be surprised by the discrepancy, but I am not. What is annoying to me is the political party blame game. Please, I have worked for cheap Republicans and Democrats. It is also incredibly irritating that more laws have to be passed to encourage equal pay.
What if women just stopped contributing? How long would it take before things fell apart? Not long, not long at all. Maybe then, men (and woman, they can be just as cheap) would finally be willing to pay a woman her worth.
Okay, so that might be a bit drastic, and to be honest, it is coming from a woman who is overstretched and in dire need of a break. We can throw out my idea, but it is tempting. Yes?
In an effort to create momentum, April 9 is supposed to be “Equal Pay Day” with a push to wear red to heighten awareness of unequal pay. Wow, we are so quick to push a color for awareness.
Red is also the color for AIDS, and Red Bull gives you wings. I digress.
Going back to not being surprised, this is, yet, another example of society not honoring and valuing people. Even more bothersome is the difference in median incomes by race (Census p.8). More of the same, we are a slow learning country.
Final thought: Push forward, get a good education and demand something better from society.
flip flops and bee stings 