Blog Action For Fair Pay Day

Today marks yet another year of a wage gap between men and women.  In the U.S. the pay gap is $10,622 and this year the action know as The Fair Pay Campaign is asking us to write about what an extra $10,000 would mean to us.  You can find my post here from last year where I go over some more factual information about this situation.  Changes have occurred in the last year in U.S. politics as well:

The Paycheck Fairness Act, passed in the House of Representatives in January 2009 and now pending in the Senate, aims to strengthen current laws against wage discrimination and provides tools to enable the federal government to be more proactive in the fight. Among other things, the Paycheck Fairness Act would also close a significant loophole in the Equal Pay Act to allow for full compensation for sex-based wage discrimination.

You can find more information about this Act and how you can let your senator know your feelings about it here

Since I work at home in two different jobs relating myself to the $10,000 figure is hard.  I don't make any money for the most challenging (and rewarding) job that I do.  But it goes without saying that I would be able to do more with an extra $10,000, who wouldn't?  The message that I find the most important to share regarding this day of action and this situation is that women and men need to understand that sexism still exists in our culture.  It is not gone.  Equality is not just a buzz word to me I know that I deserve the same amount of money for the same skill set in a job that a man does.  Learning of the crazy and gratuitous bonuses and salaries that the top corporate honchos were giving themselves when the bail outs were happening last year really opened my eyes to the huge discrepancies between not only men and women in the workforce but also the entire hierarchy of corporate structure.

To me this all comes down to value.  What do we want to value as a society?  What do we care about?  Cars, mansions, private jets?  Family, health care, no one being hungry?  I chose not to make my value be about dollar signs but about something deeper and more meaningful.  Love, friendship, compassion, respect, I value equality, I value life.   $10,000 is only a drop in the bucket of  where our society needs to evolve to.  But it is a drop that is creating a ripple and so it is a cause that I support.  Good luck in getting this passed through the Senate America, I hope it helps people to see what really matters to them.