“Women…Like Men, Only Cheaper.” Sayings like these and bumper stickers like the one below, may seem catchy or funny but in actuality they represent the truth. The truth is men and women are not equal.

Image by Peace Resource Project 

One of the most prominent areas where men and women are not equal is in the job market. This gender inequality includes ability to obtain positions, eligibility for promotions, and of course salary. For so long, women have been silent but in recent years women have been speaking up for their rights.

Women are often discriminated against in the hiring process. Since women are the childbearing ones, companies will discriminate on them for the potential that they may get pregnant and go on maternity leave. Many companies do not want to pay workers on maternity leave, so they do not hire women. Essentially, women are sometimes punished because of their anatomical ability to bring successive generations into the world, a necessary process for the continuation of society. That is clearly a very logical conclusion by companies. Furthermore, women have historically been the ones to take on child-care roles. So, this is another factor inhibiting companies from hiring women.

Women are discriminated against for their ability to bear children and their “traditional” place in society as the ones to raise them. Yet, it would make more sense if companies offered paid maternity leave and paid child care days. Women should not have to decide between seeing their child’s school performance or getting paid for working. Other countries have paid maternity, paid child care days, and more paid sick days than does the United States. These countries have more equality between men and women, are happier countries overall, and are as, if not more successful than American companies.

It is more difficult for women to get promotions in comparison to men. A contributing factor to this is the current domination of men at the top levels of most job sectors. Young men can more easily relate to older men at the top of the ladder in comparison to how women can relate to them. When young men are able to build these relationships, they are more likely to receive a helping hand in climbing the corporate ladder. With this helping hand, men have a much easier time getting to the top of the ladder.

There are a few fields dominated by women. Two of the main ones are teaching and nursing, both of which are rather underpaid in comparison to other sectors. So, in the fields where women can relate to the people at the top, the pay is not great.

It is proven that women only earn seventy-eight cents per every dollar that a man earns. For the exact same work, women will receive twenty-two cents less. Why are women worth one cent, much less twenty-two in comparison to a man? We are not. We just happen to live in a society that has instilled in us the belief that women are worth less than men.

The pay gap in the United States as a whole is men making $51,640 and women making $41,554, so women are making 80% of what men are making. This is for the country as a whole, but there are numbers by the state too. Women receive the least pay gap discrimination in New York (89%), California (88%), Florida (87%), and Washington DC (86%). However, women in Montana (73%), West Virginia (72%), Utah (70%), and Louisiana (70%) suffer to a greater degree.

These numbers generally come from white women who are under fifty in the workplace, yet there is even greater discrimination against minority and older women. Minority and older women have even more difficult times obtaining jobs in the first place and being promoted. Moreover, the gender gap is greater for minority and older women too. For example, Hispanic of Latina women only earn 54% of what a white man does while Black of African-American women earn 63% of what a man does. In addition, between 20-24 years old the pay gap women make 94% of what men do but between 55-64 years old the pay gap increases to 74%.

Image by aauw.org

The gender gap in salary in the United States is significantly lower than it is in other countries, not that this justifies the situation by any means. However, there has been minimal improvement since the 1990’s and the gap will not be rectified until about 2058. This is not acceptable. Women should not have had to wait this long and women should not have to wait thirty-eight more years for this situation to be fixed. We need to fight for change and we need to fight now. We cannot allow our daughters to enter in a society where they do not receive the same opportunities and compensation in the job market based on their anatomy alone.

Dating and relationships are one area where gender inequality has always been around. There a variety of stereotypes about the roles that men and women should play in relationships. Over time, some of these stereotypes have begun to change but they have not been eliminated.

Before we delve into the current state of dating, I want to cover what dating used to be like in the 1900’s. For starters, a man was supposed to ask the woman out on a date. He would then pick her up by knocking on the door and then drive them to their destination. On the date, the woman would act lady-like and proper by getting something like a salad. The man would order something to showcase his masculinity, like a steak or burger, and then pay for the meal. Almost all of the responsibility for the date was on the man.

Image Courtesy of Kezia Noble

In recent years, things have taken a turn. Now, women are beginning to take on a more active role in dating. Often times, the man and the woman will meet at the date location rather than the man picking up the woman. Also, a lot of times women will offer to split the bill or pay half of the time. However, the reason that women often pick up the tab stems from gender inequality. A lot of times when women offer to pay for dates they do so that they do not know their date anything. Essentially, women do not want to feel obligated to have sex or provide sexual favors for a man because he pays for dinner on their date.

While women paying for dinner, seems like a step towards their independence in dating culture it really comes from a negative place. There is a societal standard that has been instilled into women insinuating that they owe a man something because he takes them on a date. This is a blatant example of gender inequality because women do not owe themselves or their bodies to anyone for anything.

If a couple is able to get past these dating stereotypes, things begin to change in the dynamic of the relationship but the man still typically plays a dominant role. It is more common to see the husband driving with the wife in the passenger seat. It is more common to see the husband pay for dinner even though the credit card is from a joint account. It is more common for the husband to do heavy lifting activities. It is more common that the wife cooks dinner for the entire family. It is more common that the wife takes care of lighter tasks around the home like grocery shopping. It is more common that the wife takes the children to appointments. So, men still hold the masculine role while the women hold the feminine role.

Most of the time,people do not even deal with these stereotypes because they ignore dating and take part in the hook-up culture. Thanks to apps like Tinder, men and women are always on the prowl for singles of their age. They will swipe right or left, depending on the picture. Men will set up dates with multiple women in a short period of time. They do not care about the women as individuals, they care about getting the woman into bed with them. Men will even compete with one another to get with the hottest women or will try to one-up each other. This demeans women. Women may not know about all of the other dates but it still diminishes their worth.

Image Courtesy of Tinder.com

While this post seems negatively skewed towards men in dating and hook-up culture, these are generally representative of the facts and testimonies online. Yet, there are other factors involved in the marriage and dating situation as well. Now, many men and women are pushing off marriage, children, and settling down. Therefore, women are more open to the hook-up culture as well and society’s culture is changing as well. Men can no longer rely on finding a wife who will stay-at-home all day and take care of the house, the laundry, and the children. But, women can also no longer rely on finding a man who will have a job that supports the entire family and takes on the typical roles of a man in relationship. Norms are no longer the same for both genders, so expectations of both genders need to change.

Marriage, dating, and hook-up culture are all relevant topics in our society that contribute to gender inequality. Unless, men begin to respect women there will always be inequality in this area. There needs to a shift in perception about respect in relationships for these things to change.

One of the most prominent areas in which gender inequality exists is in sports. Throughout history, sports have been an area for which men can excel while women are either excluded or not given equal opportunity. Recently, US Soccer has been in the media for the discrepancies between compensation for the men’s and women’s teams.

Before we delve into the recent issues that have recently captured the media, I’m going to provide some background on the two teams.

The United States Men’s National Soccer Team played its first FIFA recognized international match in 1916 against Sweden. Since 1916, the team has appeared in ten World Cups with their best finish being third place during the inaugural tournament in 1930. They have failed to qualify for ten world cups, including the 2018 tournament. In terms of rankings, the USMNT have been ranked #4 as their highest, #36 as their lowest, and are currently at #25.

Image Courtesy of USA Today

On the other hand, the United States Women’s National Soccer Team did not get its start until 1985 when they defeated Italy in an international friendly. Since 1985, the team has had seven World Cup appearances with three wins coming in 1991, 1999, and 2015. They have qualified in every World Cup since its inception, with their worst finish being third place. In terms of rankings, the USWNT have been ranked #1 as their highest, #2 as their lowest, and are currently  #1.

Image Courtesy of US Soccer

Based on the numbers alone, the women’s team has clearly had a superior performance to the men’s team. The women have always been ranked higher than the men and the women have always performed better in the World Cup than the men. So, it would be fair to assume that the women are paid more for their superior play. However, this is far from the case. The opposite is true, as the men receive greater compensation.

For the World Cup, the men’s team receives compensation for qualifier games, being on the roster, qualification, per game, first round, second round advancement, third place, second place, and winning. The USMNT would not know about the championship bonus because they have never gotten that far in the tournament. On the other hand, the women’s team only receives compensation for being on the roster, fourth place, third place, second place, and winning. Essentially, the women’s team needs to perform well to earn money while the men’s team just has to get their name on the roster. Maybe that is why the women’s team has won three tournaments while the men’s teams have failed to qualify for many.

This discrepancy holds true for friendly matches as well. In friendlies, the men’s team receives compensation for wins, ties and losses. The women’s team only receives compensation for wins.

There are several other factors to be considered too, including revenue generation and ratings. Before the women’s World Cup win in 2015, their revenue generation was less than that of the men. However, since then the women have brought in $6.6 million dollars while the men have only brought in $2 million. Yet the women still had to and continue to fight for fair pay. 

Although this specific case deals with US Soccer, there are growing gender wage gaps in professional basketball and professional golf championships as well. Some of this is due to the fact that ratings and revenue are generally higher in men’s sports. However, the preference for men’s sports stems from a history of gender inequality in sports, as women were not able to get into the game until much later. Therefore, a negative spiral is created. This negative spiral results from women’s teams receiving inadequate funding thus less women turning pro thus less development of women’s professional leagues. Without the development of high quality professional leagues that can afford to pay their players with salaries that cover the cost of living, women’s sport will never reach their full potential in terms of talent or popularity.  

While this seems like an issue that only impacts the players, it has wider ranging impacts. One of the most significant impacts is on the young girls who look to the players as role models. For example, two young girls I babysit idolize Alex Morgan, a forward on the USWNT. Both of the girls play soccer and aspire to be professionals, as many of us do at a young age. However, girls are not encouraged to be professional athletes because there are not many stable professional leagues. This is something that needs to change. Female athletes inspire girls across the country to be active and competitive and strong, three qualities that women have been shamed for in the past. We need to start using sports as a platform to create gender equality. We need to celebrate female athletes. We need to celebrate success of both genders in athletic endeavors. Creating societal change takes time, but each person can help make a difference. Each person can make an effort to tune into the WNBA or the NWSL or a USWNT game and see the talent that female athletes have to show the world.