Dear Future President,

I have followed your campaign for the past several months and I am eager to see what you will do for our country once you are in office. One of my many concerns that needs to be addressed by your office is the lack of equality that women have to deal within their daily lives in the United States. As President, I believe you could help change the inequity in how women are treated while working in what is still a predominately male environment.

Women work just as hard, and many times, longer, than men do, so why don't they get equal treatment and pay at some establishments? It is noted from the DPE (Department for Professional Employees) Research Department, that women have grown to be a larger voice in the workforce and make up “more than half of the professional and technical workers in the United States”, yet many are still struggling due to unequal care by employers compared to men. Even when both women and men are performing the same job with the same amount of education, men are making more money.

In 2013 according to IWPR- the Institute for Women’s Policy Research-, the wage gap between full-time working men and women was twenty-one point seven percent. On average, the total income for a woman was thirty-nine thousand one hundred and fifty-seven dollars while for men it was fifty thousand thirty-three dollars, a gap of almost eleven thousand dollars. IWPR also stated that “if pay change continues at the same slow pace as it has done for the past fifty years, it will take forty-four years for women to finally reach pay parity”.

In the article, “Sex, Gender and Work Segregation in Cultural Industries,” David Hesmondhalgh and Sarah Baker state that “the same jobs and occupations carried out by women rather than men tend to pay less” confirming the allegations that inequality is still an accepted practice in our society.

It is not okay for employers to say they would rather have a man do the work over a woman because “he” works harder. This is an unsupported, biased claim. In an experiment, Yale students conducted a test for gender bias in the science field. Students applying for a lab manager position after graduation and scientists from the same lab performing the interviews were selected randomly. Half the scientists were given an application with a male name attached to it, and the other half were given the same application with a female name attached to it. The test concluded saying “that the ‘female applicants were rated significantly lower than the ‘males’ in competence, hire-ability, and whether the scientist would be willing to mentor the student”. This demonstrates that in the working society females who are equal to their male counterparts in education and experience, are still discriminated against based on their gender or physical attributes.

To conclude, we must make America an equal place once and for all when it comes to gender stereotypes and female equality. As President, you must initiate change. Equal rights for women will unite and help advance the United States, as well as set examples for other countries who face similar challenges.

Sincerely,

Kendal Turman

Sources:

http://dpeaflcio.org/professionals/professionals-in-the-workplace/women-in-the-professional-and-technical-labor-force/

http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-prognosis/study-shows-gender-bias-in-science-is-real-heres-why-it-matters/