Dear Future President,

I know that I am not the legal age to vote, but I’m still entitled to having an opinion and also having a say in what I believe in. I feel that in today's society, women are not being treated by the same standards as men. All throughout U.S history, women have not been equal to men. Women aren’t being treated equally whether it be regarding their athletic capability, education, and or ability to work. I feel that you as the next President of the United States, should address this topic and make sure it is dealt with. As a female, I feel that we should be treated equally to men and get the same pay for doing the same jobs.

I may not be old enough to get a job yet, but I still feel very strongly about this topic. I know that my mom and older sister both work hard and put forth effort when at work. They both deserve to be paid the same as men. Also, the other women in the United States do too, no matter their race. They are doing the exact same job and should be paid equally. When I am finished with college and get a job in the career I choose, I will definitely expect to be paid the same as men.

In the year of 2016, there are still plenty of ways that women are not being treated as equal as men, but income inequality is most important to me. Men are getting paid more money per hour than women when doing the same job. How does this sound fair? There is no reason that men should be paid more than women for doing the same job. According to The Women's Policy Research's website, “Female full-time workers make only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent.” That may not seem like a lot of money, but 20 cents adds up very quickly and is a lot of money lost in the long run. This topic gets even worse, according to this Washington Post article, “It’s 2016, and women still make less for doing the same work as men,” “The gap widens by race, with black women earning 60 cents and Hispanic earning 55 cents to every white man's dollar.” Different races get paid even less money than a white women. There is a very large gap between those numbers, and this issue needs to be addressed very soon. The women's soccer team who were the World Cup champions were not paid equally as men. The men didn’t win, and they still were paid more. Though some may say that men's soccer is more interesting to watch, that is no reason why they get paid more. This is not fair at all, and this issue needs to be addressed and dealt with.

When women don’t get paid equally, other problems start to kick in. More women compared to men are in poverty. According to the article, “The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty,” that is posted on American Progress, “Elderly women are far more likely to be poor than elderly men. Thirteen percent of women over 75 years old are poor compared to 6 percent of men. Poverty rates for males and females are the same throughout childhood, but increase for women during their childbearing years and again in old age.” A lot more of women are poor than men. If we were paid equally, we wouldn’t run into this issue as much. There are ways for things like this to be prevented if you, the next President of the United States, address this important issue.

I feel that you should address this topic and make sure it is dealt with. As a female, we should be treated up to the same standards as men and get the same pay for doing to same jobs. I know that this isn’t an easy issue in the United States to address, but I think that you should put lots of effort into it fixing. This issue concerning income equality will take a lot of thought and dedication to fix. There are a few ways that you, the next President of the United States of America can fix this. You could raise the minimum wage, increase taxes on super high income, or Strengthen laws on nondiscriminatory hiring, compensation, and promotion practices for women and minorities. I hope that you as the next President of the United States will help to ensure that both genders and all races are paid equally.

Sincerely,

Makenzie S., Pennsylvania