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24
Equal Pay
Jessica Clarke
Orator of the Year
Winner
Picture this:
You have recently graduated from University, and you’re going to
your very first serious, fulltime job interview. You’re nervous when
you arrive for your interview and even more nervous when you see a
boy you know going for the same job. After the interview is finished,
and all the nerves have evaporated, you get the job. So does the boy
you know because they are hiring ten graduates. You’re thrilled and
start working straight away. A couple of months later, you see a
snapchat of the boy’s first pay check. He is being paid 18% more than
you for exactly the same job. How can that be?
Now picture this:
It is the 1990s and your Mum has been doing very well at work.
People don’t talk about what they get paid so she doesn’t realise that
she is paid less than her male workmates who do the same job.
There is almost 30 years between these two scenarios, yet the
only thing that has changed is that women have now become more
aware of the substantial gap in pay. We are in 2014 now, the gender
pay gap should be a long gone problem but there is still a gender pay
gap present. In one lifetime that can mean the difference of one
million dollars between a man and a woman. This matters to me.
This matters to society. Imagine what life could be like when
everyone is paid purely based on their job, and gender has nothing to
do with it. A consequence of many women leaving the work force is
that the money made by the country is not as much and the country
is no longer as rich as it would have been had the women stayed
working. Society can be immensely affected by this gender pay gap.
The more people working, the better off the country is. Hence, we
need women to be encouraged and appreciated in the work force,
which can only be done with equal pay.
This matters to women across the globe. The gender pay gap is
prevalent in 194 countries, so it is very widespread. Studies showed
that replacing a man’s name with a woman’s name on a resume
reduces the salary offered. When I found this information out, I
was shocked, appalled, speechless. Something so little as changing
the name could affect the money given? If women are paid based on
the work produced by them, not based on their gender, then it
would give women as a whole, more motivation and confidence
towards working.
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