Working hard for this money
Ladies, if you’re anything like me, you have just spent a long
five years in school. You have been trying to get as much work and
internship experience in the field (or in my case, fields) that you
are going into.
And if you’re anything like me, there is one question that is
weighing on your mind. Will you, as a woman, be able to make a
comparable salary to the males in your field?
According to a new magazine study by Working Woman, the salary
gap is closing; however, men are still more likely to be coming out
better than women. Traditionally, that was because men went to
school more and were better educated, but why, when over half of
the people in college are women does the inequality still
exist?
“Women earn 76.5 cents on the dollar compared to men,” according
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is only 14 cents more than
when the government started keeping track in 1979. However, in the
information technology field, when times got tough, it was the
women who suffered the most.
“According to the 2002 IT Salary Survey Report, women in almost
every major salary category lost ground virtually across the board
(compared to salaries in 2002),” in that field. And its not just
that I might not, after my huge amount of work in school, be able
to get paid as much as the males in my field, it is also that if I
choose to get pregnant, I could be on precarious footing.
Recently, the equal opportunities commission (EOC) investigated
cases of discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace. It
was launched as a result of a survey that found one in five people
knew a mother-to-be who had been affected by discrimination.
“Jenny Watson, the EOC’s deputy chairwoman, said, ‘Our helpline
receives more calls from women facing problems at work because of
their pregnancy than on any other subject. We hear quite appalling
cases of women who have been demoted, disciplined or even sacked
simply for having a baby,'” according to an article published in
The Guardian Review.
I have worked hard for a chance to get into my chosen career
fields. And all I and any woman like me can hope for is that we can
choose an employer that is fair enough to pay us based on our
talent and respect our right to reproduce. But all I want to know
is…is that all we deserve?
Liz is a senior majoring in graphic art and journalism. She
would take 75.6 cents on the dollar if she could work for ESPN The
Magazine.
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