Equal Pay Definition Essay

A young woman named Maxine Lampe achieved her goal of becoming a teacher. The school district refused to give her the equal amount of pay that men received, even though Lampe was the sole earner while her husband was in graduate school. Later, Lampe went into public school administration and found once again that her gender — and marital status — was a factor in her pay. While trying to negotiate her salary, one of the board members told her, “You don’t need as much pay because your husband is a professor and you have enough money” (Owens). Today in the United States, the wage gap between working women and men is still not closed. The average working woman earns 79 cents for every dollar that a man earns and and women’s median annual earnings are $10,800 less than men’s,
By the time women between ages age 45 to 64, they earn about 15,000 dollars less than men per year. For young adults, the wage gap is more slim than elders in the working force. (Swartz). In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed in the U.S. This act aimed to abolish equal pay for good, though this was not the case and still is not. Women still face a substantial wage gap. Mostly in the 1960’s/70’s, the wage gaps were as wide as the equator. Beyonce once stated,“You know, equality is a myth, and for some reason, everyone accepts the fact that women don’t make as much money as men do. I don’t understand that. Why do we have to take a backseat?” (Strasser).Today, the wage gap also affects women of color. For example, Asian women earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by Asian men and Hispanic women earned 75 cents for every dollar earned by black men. All women should be paid equally as men for equal work. Famous actress Emma Watson stated, "The reality is that if we do nothing, it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred, before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same