Today is Equal Pay Day! Don’t get too excited, this is not an announcement that women are finally and deservedly earning the same pay for the same work as their male counterparts. One only wishes that were the case! Sadly, it’s quite the opposite.
Today is Equal Pay Day! Don’t get too excited, this is not an announcement that women are finally and deservedly earning the same pay for the same work as their male counterparts. One only wishes that were the case! Sadly, it’s quite the opposite.
According to Joanne Smythe, an engineer, entrepreneur and writer, a woman working from January 1, 2015 until today, has on average made as much as the typical man made by, you guessed it, December 31, 2015. The folks over at the Tax Foundation make a big to do about Tax Freedom Day (which falls on April 24), the day on which on average we supposedly have paid all our taxes for the year.
Kinda depressing to think that most women haven’t even earned all of the income of the average man from last year before we make this year’s tax payment, let alone worrying about Tax Freedom Day. Or, maybe the people who are always making excuses for wage inequality just believe women should be feeling grateful for paying less tax because they make less money?
One calls bullshit on wage inequality. The fact that one is not a woman does not give one some divine right to earn more that one’s female counterparts. One is reminded of a former coworker, a wonderful, powerful woman, who when asked about the issue stated that she was very tempted to buy a pair of brass balls, place them in a velvet sack and bang them on the table during meetings in order to be taken as seriously as her male counterparts.
While we both got a good laugh (and one of us cringed just slightly and crossed his legs) at this image, it’s almost necessary, unfortunately.
Hopefully, the next time one publishes a story about Equal Pay Day it will be happily announcing the arrival of truly equal pay for equal work. Until then, one will continue to snark about the inequality.
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