“To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights, it’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.” –Patricia Arquette
Can you believe this is even an issue still in the 21st century? Can you believe that there are people who still speak live on public television and radio and try to say that women do have equal pay now across the board?
I wish that the excerpt from Patricia’s Aquette’s speech was something I was reading from a history book. I wish that I had to write an analysis paper for a class about how in the past women didn’t have equal pay but today they are paid equally to men. That isn’t the case. Equal pay is, as unbelievable as that sounds, still an issue today. Yes America has taken great strides to closing the gap but the gap isn’t closed. As women continue to move up the chain of higher education, graduating with strong degrees the pay gap will slowly begin to naturally close. Furthermore today our culture doesn’t accept sex discrimination as much as it once did. For example if a women takes her boss to court with evidence that she is being discriminated against for pay or otherwise because of her sex, it’s more likely a jury today will see that as an issue.
I don’t agree with people who claim that Patricia’s speech was unnecessary or people who say the pay gap problem is over. It isn’t over. You don’t leave a job unfinished. Remember how as a country we didn’t accept that only some people had freedom but not all people? Remember how as a country we said only some citizens could vote but not all? The job wasn’t done then, and the job isn’t done now. Equality for some isn’t equality; it’s only half of the equation. Just because more professions have equal pay for the sexes doesn’t mean we forget about the rest that don’t have equal pay. Don’t stop talking until the task at hand is done, don’t stop talking because part of the problem is solved, chase the standard of equality down.
Leave a Reply