Today, women make only an average of 78 cents to every dollar a man makes. The pay gap for women of color averages roughly 67 cents to every man’s dollar. Even as more women earn advanced degrees, the pay gap persists, and every woman on this campus will struggle with the pay gap at some point during her life. This is an issue that we must not forget.
This week, women across the country will be advocating for equal pay. The members of the Illini Democrats will be calling our elected officials and ask them to support equal pay. We encourage every student at the University of Illinois to join us in doing the same.
The message is clear. Women deserve a raise. Women deserve equal pay for equal work. Pay equality affects all of us. It is what’s fair; it is what’s right. I hope all students at the University of Illinois will stand up with women and take action.
Shana Harrison
Communications Director
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ReplyDeleteSorry I had an annoying typo in my last comment, so I re wrote it....
ReplyDeleteThis is not my area of specialty, but I would figure other variables come into play when discussing gender wage disparities.
For example, even though times are changing, men still typically go into professions that pay at higher wages. Business, engineering, computer management are some of the top paying and most common fields today and they are dominated by men. As of 2010, women dominated the fields of secretaries, elementary teachers, and nurses. Obviously the top professions of women do not make near the amount of money that the men's most common professions do.
Of course, I am sure there is some gender bias coming into play that needs to be fixed, but I think just saying 78 cents to every mans dollar is not looking deep enough at the issue.