Time to stand up for equal pay for women

The first concert I ever attended at the Shoreline amphitheater was memorable. I took my eldest daughter and three of her close pre-teen friends to see the Spice Girls. Not knowing what to expect, I didn’t bring a blanket to claim our little area of real estate to view the concert. As the five of us sat on the grass, we were surrounded by a sea of blankets occupied by screaming teen girls.

Whenever there was a sound check or a pause in the background music, everyone would stand up and cheer in anticipation for the concert to begin. Viewers in the back would weave through the blankets trying to position themselves in an area where they could get a better view. Our little area of open turf seemed like an invitation to occupy. The first time we stood up, a group of about a dozen older teens dressed in British punk rock attire crammed into our little area. I have nothing against punk rockers. What really bothered me was their nonchalant attitude in their invasion of our personal space.

I leaned over to the person that seemed to be the leader of the pack and said, “Excuse me, but this little rectangle of grass is ours. You and your friends will have to go elsewhere to see the concert.” Because my request fell on deaf ears, I repeated myself until he finally said to his friends, “Let’s go.” As they exited the area, a mother of a large Girls Scout troop said, “Thank you! They were so obnoxious.” Her daughter looked up to her and said, “You see mommy, that’s boy power.” We both laughed, since the mantra of the Spice Girls was “Girl Power.”

Today, girl power is being challenged not by minor skirmishes at concerts but in the political arena when it comes to women’s earning power. Earlier this month, Congress failed, mostly along party lines, to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Democrats point their finger to the bill’s defeat as another example of the Republicans’ “war on women.” The Republicans accuse the Democrats of introducing the bill during an election year as political theater to win over the women’s vote.

Whatever the motives from both parties, the bill would have protected workers against any reprisal for inquiring about their wages and pay practices, and women would have more resources at their disposal to claim equal pay for equal work.

Gender pay inequity is not new. During the seventies, at the height of the national debate to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, the arguments for the pay disparity were that men’s income were the primary source for maintaining the family household.

Studies show that women today earn on average just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. According to the 2010 census data, more and more families are relying on women’s wages for their household income, in both dual-income households, and household with women as sole wage-earners.

In spite of the disparity, there are those that question the data and the methodology used to derive the statistics. Does a gender gap even exist?  

According to Lisa Maatz, director of public policy for American Association of University Women, “The sting of gender pay discrimination is real. We know that women are far more likely to spend their golden years in poverty and that it starts the moment we throw our graduation caps in the air. Women’s wages should be determined by the work we do rather than influenced by outdated and discriminatory gender stereotypes. It’s time for our paychecks and our national policies to catch up to the 21st century.”  

My youngest daughter graduated from high school this past Friday, and I’m optimistic that during her lifetime, her wages will reflect her work rather than her gender. When my wife graduated, women earned 64 cents to a dollar; in 26 years, the wage gap has narrowed by only 13 cents. Perhaps our daughters will experience pay equity.

During his commencement address at Barnard College, president Obama told the graduating class, “So don’t accept somebody else’s construction of the way things ought to be. It’s up to you to right wrongs. It’s up to you to point out injustice. It’s up to you to hold the system accountable and sometimes upend it entirely. It’s up to you to stand up and to be heard, to write and to lobby, to march, to organize, to vote. Don’t be content to just sit back and watch … Don’t wait for the person next to you to be the first to speak up for what’s right. Because maybe, just maybe, they’re waiting on you.”

Whether you’re male or female, boy or girl power, we all should be standing up for equity.