This is my small contribution to commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act. Now, the title might sound like I'm completely ripping on the Equal Pay Act. I'm not. My point is to draw attention to the fact that things still aren't as equal as a lot of people think it is.
See Lindsay's great post for the facts and information about what you can do to help.
And I would like to direct a little rant to all the anonymous commenter(s) who think that all women are good for is makin' babiez, and that is why they deserve lower wages:
First of all, maternity leave has nothing to do with women making less than men for the same job.
Second of all, and this was really bothering me, caring for children is a job. It's hard work that is not respected enough in this country. That much is obvious from so many anonymous comments on this blog lately. They have proclaimed that paying all women less, regardless if they've taken paternity leave or not, is fair because they will "most likely" need time off because they just can't help making those babies.
Raising children is important. What kind of world would we live in if parents were completely unattached to their children? I don't want to find out. So I support paid maternity leave, and those people out there who oppose it and use it as a justification in their own eyes for lower wages for women (even though it really has nothing to do with unequal pay)...all I have to say is WAKE UP.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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2 comments:
I totally feel your anger on the disrespect mothers face for doing something so instrumental as raising children.
I hope I addressed that point in my post today. I actually thought about the underlying causes of the wage gaps stemmed from far more persistent and pervasive sexism than that only that which is present in the workplace.
You are both right about the maternity leave and that unequal pay is just one symptom of the larger, systematic sexism that exists around us.
Lovely work, ladies.
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