Article Written by: Aditi R.
Cover Design by: Zainab A.
Over time, we have seen how gender parity impacts women. Wage gaps have made strides in recent decades, but have they been large enough?
For example, back in 2016, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Megan Rapino, Carli Lloyd, and Becky Sauerbruun from the US National team for soccer filed a wage discrimination lawsuit aggainst the USSF, stating that despite creating a revenue of 20 million dollars and a net profit of 17.7 million, they were payed a quarter of the men’s team wages. After fighting for their right for equal pay, they eventually reached an agreement to increase pay from $200,000 to $300,000. Megan Rapino told the New York Times in an interview that, “one cannot simply outperform inequality or be excellent enough to escape discrimination.”
Fights like these in recent years clearly demonstrate how although change has been made, we still have a long way to go. In fact, the pay gap has only narrowed eight cents in 25 years. Statistically, at this rate, we would get equal pay in 2059. For black and hispanic women, the date would be in a century. The Global Gender Gap Report of 2020 has shown that gender parity will likely not come till 99.5 years from now. Generations to come, including our own, will see gender parity for a long time, unless change is enacted.
HBR Staff/Alex Grimm/Getty Images (Image from Harvard Business Review)
Although more is necessary, we still have put forth actions towards solving this issue. One of these is the Equal Pay Act passed 60 years ago which made it illegal to set salaries based on gender. Despite this rule, it can be hard for women to determine whether they are being paid less due to companies encouraging secrecy when discussing salaries. DC has, in turn, adopted legislation banning pay secrecy. Thus, acts and legislations are still in place towards fixing the issue.
Overall, fixing the pay gap is an immensely important step towards gender equality. We have made strides towards this goal, but we need to take larger leaps to ensure that our generation, among many others, can see the day when equal pay is a reality.
Sources: