Women in the workforce helped raise awareness about the gap between male and female wages in honor of “Equal Pay Day” on Tuesday.
“Equal Pay Day” is a grassroots movement started by the National Committee on Pay Equity, marking the 102 additional days that women would have to work to make the same income as their male counterparts did in 2010.
Women on average only earn 77 percent of what men earn, according to a U.S. Census statistic released in September 2010. In response, the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators held a pay equity forum at the State House on Tuesday to discuss the wage gap.
Massachusetts law prohibits employers from paying male or female employees different wages “for work of like or comparable character,” but the law fails to define “comparable work” and women are still being paid less, according to the press advisory for the equity forum.
House Caucus of Women Legislators leader Rep. Cory Atkins (D-Mass.) said legislation is unclear when it comes to the rights of female laborers.
“Courts have looked to the legislature to come up with a definition of comparable work and the legislation has [proposed two bills] so that jobs can be broken down and classified,” Atkins said in a phone interview.
Atkins said that women have yet to receive the same treatment in the labor industry as men.
“We still have a long way to go,” Atkins said. “It’s rather embarrassing that after all these years, there’s still a 20 percent [wage] difference with white and Asian women and a 30 percent [wage] difference with Latinos and women of color.”
Massachusetts Sen. Karen Spilka , who is the Senate Caucus leader, agreed.
“Today’s an important day,” Spilka said in a phone interview. “Equal pay attempts started in 1963, and as of 2010, we’ve had some progress, but it’s less than half a percent each year.”
The Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963, when women earned 59 percent of what men earned, according to an April 11 press release on pay-equity.org.
“Women’s work in the wide world needs to be much more highly valued and paid more, and the division of labor is based on sexism – the belief that men are superior to women,” said Diane Balser, a Boston University women’s, gender and sexuality studies professor.
Student reactions about the wage disparity ranged from surprise to wariness and they hoped for more stringent wage legislation to pass.
“That is shocking because I thought wages had become more equal nowadays,” said David Lehouillier, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman.
Lehouillier also said that wage gaps based on gender differences are unfair.
“Something needs to be done about this because it’s totally unfair that [women’s wages] aren’t equal to men’s, and they shouldn’t be paid less for the same work,” LeHouillier said.
Brigid Wallace, a sophomore in the School of Education, said she was “sadly not surprised” about unfair wages.
“I don’t know if people think that women aren’t given as much education, but that isn’t true because more women are going to college than men now,” Wallace said. “I just don’t understand.”
Other students said that unfair pay is just another reason why women have to persevere in today’s world.
“I mean I don’t think it really surprises me, it’s kind of the stereotype that women have to work harder and excel at a higher rate than men to receive equal benefits and pay and equal stature, but it’s good that it’s being recognized, especially at a government level where there can be steps to rectify it,” said Eli Crozier, a junior in CAS. “But does it surprise me or anybody else? Probably not as much as it should.”
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Women do not earn a fraction of men for equal work period. It is just an old myth sprung by feminists to bash men and blame men and society because women do not want to take responsibility for their behavior. It has been debunked so many times. Have anyone heard of Warren Farrell? Look him up, he did comprehensive studies and concluded that women actually make more than men for equal work. Just that you know, Warren Farrell used to work for NOW. So any of you women go crazy on this. I am sure I would hire women if they do in fact only make a fraction… you women have it soooo good in this country it’s not even funny!
Funny isn’t it that all those studies were done by groups that would favor women or have ties with women service groups…On one hand they were able to somehow pull out the “77 cent per dollar men earn” but they had no idea how to define “equal work”?? This is why women will never be as competitive and smart than men. Women envy men and want EXACTLY what men have but all women could do was to cry victim and seek help from the “big government” and various other “big sister organizations” for help. What about talking to her boss and proving to her boss why she deserves a raise?? Huh? What about going into “cut throat” businessess, working 10-12 hrs everyday, including weekends and holidays?? No, most women don’t want that, most women don’t want to be caught dead friday evening working, most women want to have children. My point? Women make their own choices and those choices trade more salaries with more freedom from work. If you women want equality how about fighting for those guys who are abused and the shelters are suppose to help the abused not women only. If you truely want equality then you should fight for everyone…men step up all the time to fight another men they see hurting women… stop being petty and argue about why he is making more but forget he is not with his kids.
The world should join a hand to raise avoice to stop the difference pay of daily wages between men and women. As we human are created equally..