Here I am, another blog today. But how could I resist?
Today, April 14, is Equal Pay Day… “the day selected each year by the National Committee on Pay Equity…to draw attention to how much longer women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.”
- John Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963…Back then, women earned 59 cents on the dollar paid to a man in the same kind of job. By 2013 (most recent data), women were paid 78 cents on the dollar.
- Progress? Actually, according to the article, “stalled” is the appropriate term.
- But really? This is called gender bias. There isn’t any other reason. Even when we’re trying to be aware and conscious, we’ve been socialized to be anything but.
Another April 14 reminder. The year was 1865. Abraham Lincoln was shot. He died April 15. That would be the Civil War. The fight against slavery.
- Progress? Sure. No more slavery, so to speak. The Civil Rights Movement.
- But racism still exists…for people of all colors but white here in the U.S. of A.
Justice? Not really. Racism. Sexism. Homophobia. Socioeconomic injustice.
We don’t have equality. We don’t have equity. The two are different and we have neither.
Let’s keep fighting.
