$.78 does not equal $1.00

To be a woman in the United States is a blessing, right? Women can vote. Women can attend school and obtain a degree. Women can hold positions in public offices. Women can wear pants and show their faces in public. They have the right to own property, to sign contracts, to love whomever they choose. And women can work at any jobs they please. 

What a long and blessed way we've come in the last century and a half, when women were recognized not as thinking, feeling, opinionated individuals, as human beings, but as mere property of the man in their lives. But have we come all the way, crossed the finish line of this long and tedious struggle for female equality? 

The Women's Studies Council at Plymouth State University brings attention and insight to these difficult questions surrounding feminist circles today. The Council focuses on the treatment of women in this country by traditions, stereotypes, legislation, and fellow citizens, and the subtle yet equally oppressive ways in which women continue to struggle with the inequalities they face.

On Tuesday, April 12, the Women's Studies Council celebrated Equal Pay Day by hosting events to raise awareness about the gender gap that exists in the incomes and earnings of American men and women. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed to prevent such discrepancies in men and women's pay, but even almost fifty years later, white women in this country make only 78% of what white men do in a year. The gap becomes even larger for women of color.

To raise awareness about the issue, the Women's Studies Council, with help and sponsorship from the SAGE Center, organized an event at Beiderman's Deli, called "unhappy hour," where women, between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., only paid 78% of their tabs while men paid in full. The Council also collaborated with Off The Hanger, which offered women a 22% discount on their purchases during unhappy hour.

Becky Cressy, the student worker for the Women's Studies Council, was a prominent figure in the organization of Equal Pay Day at PSU. "What bothers me most about the issue," she said, "is that a lot of women don't even know that the gap is there. They aren't aware that it's still an issue," she said in response to a common sentiment among both men and women that ‘women do share equality with men in this country.'

"If a woman asks for a raise from her employer, which she is less likely to do in the first place," said Cressy on the proliferation of the gap, "she is seen as aggressive. But if a man asks for a raise, he's admired for being ambitious and a ‘go-getter,' and is more likely to get the raise." Though it may not seem so now, the gender gap will have a serious impact on our generation when we enter the full-time work force after graduation. Since the passing of the Equal Pay Act in '63, the gap has only decreased by $.44, or less than one cent per year on average. Being that the economy is currently in a debilitated state, the prospect of the gap decreasing significantly within the next decade seems rather grave.

Beyond the handicap of our current economy is the deceptive nature of the gap as it develops over time. According to Dr. Ann McClellan, Chair of the Women's Studies Council, women, upon graduating from college, make about 93% of men in the first year or so of their career. Still a discrepancy, but a much smaller one, so it's almost equal, right? On the contrary, the gap actually grows after the first year of full-time work. So much so that "over the entire course of a woman's career, the discrepancy amounts to about $500,000," said McClellan. Even when a man and a woman with equal positions at a job receive the same raises along the same timeline, the gap will grow at every stage unless the woman was making the same as her male counterpart to begin with. Also according to McClellan, the older you are, the larger the gap becomes, and the higher your education, the larger the discrepancy will be over time. So, a woman with a PhD will end up making about $2 million less in her lifetime than her male counterpart.

So where does PSU fall within the gender gap? According to Provost Julie Bernier, "salaries for women [faculty at PSU] are at about a 94% of their male counterparts.  Better than the national average," she said, "but a gap nonetheless." Some of the gap amongst our own faculty can be explained by years of service at the school. " I think the more troubling issue," continued Provost Bernier, "is that far fewer female faculty members stay in their positions and make it to the rank of full professor." According to Provost Bernier, women make up 30% of the full-time, tenured professors at Plymouth State. "Yet women earn more than half of the PhDs awarded in the United States." Therein is evidence of the obstacles women continue to face in earning equality to men in the professional workplace.

So how do we solve this problem so that women get the pay they deserve? "The first step," said McClellan, "is talking about how much money everybody makes." But because income and finances tend to be such private matters, this can be tricky. An equally important step is raising awareness about the gap and the reasons why it has proliferated for so long. "Hopefully this fundraiser will open people's eyes, both men and women," said Cressy, "and create some buzz about the inequalities that women still face." As far as closing the gap, there is quite a bit of work and legislation involved before women across the board are paid fairly for their hard work and service. Until then, I'll settle for a nationwide 22% female discount.