Unequal Pay and Unpaid Maternity Leave
Sexism has always been a huge issue. Though there has been a lot of change, the wage gap still remains. Women and men still aren’t paid for most of their parental leave. We have come so close to equality, but there is much more work to be done, so you will you do it?
Dear Next President,
Believe it or not, women got the right to vote in America only a little less than 100 years ago. But still, we face challenges due to sexism everyday. Whether it’s from a workplace paying women less than men, or just a rude comment on your way home, our society is sexist. Firstly, women hardly get any paid maternity leave but the main problem that you need to focus on is that women get paid less than men for doing the same amount of work. What can you and will you do?
In 2015, white women got paid 79% of what white-men were paid, black women got paid 64% of what white-men got paid and hispanic women got paid 56% of what white-men were paid. Not only does this problem have to do with discrimination against women, but this has to do with race and ethnicity as well. The pay gap is also different between states. For example in Wyoming, the pay gap between men and women is about 69% while in New York the pay gap is 87%. This means that this is probably a problem for states to deal with more individually. But, if we had a president that thoroughly supported equal pay, this could make a huge change.
Yet another aspect that can change the pay gap is age. Women that are 55-64 years old are paid about 76% of what men are paid on average. Women that are 16-19 are paid about 91% of what men are paid. This is another complication about solving this problem. One cause of this problem is that only 12% of Americans have access to paid parental leave. This can tell us that many people that would like to be with their child and families cannot because they need to get paid from their job. Women are more likely to stay home from their job to be with the child so they often get paid less statistically. This is also one of the reasons that age influences the pay gap. So when women go off to care for their child, they often don’t get paid while doing it. 78 other countries give a lot more paid parental leave than America.
Overall, unequal wage and unpaid-parental leave are huge issues. We need a president who will address them with an open mind. As a young woman growing up in America, I don’t want to be forced to look at my male co-workers and friends that have gotten twice as much money than I have. I think that all women should think this issue is important to address. I think that as president you should be addressing this issue. This problem will only keep growing unless you fix it.
-Cora C.
Sources
https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/equal-pay
http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/