When and Where Will There Be Equality for Women?

When and Where Will There Be Equality for Women?

A.R (2017) Women's Earnings Map

In our second unit of MDGs, we were asked to write an essay on gender equality and a topic within it, such as the pay gap. We were also told to pick two countries to compare gender equality. In this unit, we explored the truth behind gender equality. Miss Representation, a documentary we watched, truly exemplified and provided many statistical facts that showed what it is really like. The purpose of this assignment was to explore the attempts at gender equality and gender equality in other parts of the world. I found many statistics to be very troubling but some were found to be positive.

            When and where will there be equality for women? Truly, it depends on how serious we take on the issue. The answer is not as simple as one might think. Inequality has specifically been shown in pay salary. Two countries, the United States and the United Kingdom have shown improvement in creating equality for women. Both countries have shown different approaches to handling inequality and have shown improvements throughout time. In this essay, we will explore each country’s approach to handling equality and their accomplishments. We will also explore the differences and similarities of their achievements for gender equality.

            In the United States, women have fought for most of their rights. Today, women still have not reached a point of equality. They have made huge strides since the first march for suffrage in 1908 (Bush). During this time, they were usually viewed as the person who would take care of their children, expected to be married at a young age and nothing more. During the 1960s there was a fight for equal pay because during a time of war women were doing the same tasks, so why would women be paid less? President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Law in 1963 (Alter). This made it illegal to pay a woman less than man and created a step towards equality. Even though this act is in effect currently, women are still getting paid nearly 80 cents for every dollar a man earns and 5.2% of women are CEOs of fortune 500 companies (Pew).

In the United Kingdom, women have had a history of gender inequality. After all these years, women are still having to battle the pay gap. In 1867, Gender inequality was recognized to be an important issue. As a result, the London Society for Women’s Suffrage was formed. This society created a path of progress During the 1970s, The Equal Pay Act was implemented, which didn’t allow women to be discriminated from equal pay. Women today are in fact still fighting. For example, a British Actress, Andrea Riseborough, had to fight for her pay two times because she was receiving less money than the male opposite of her (Gosling). In 2016, the gender pay gap reached a difference of 9.4% between male and female (Allen).

            Both the United States and the United Kingdom, have shown to be more oblivious towards achieving a closer pay gap recently. There are similarities and differences between the two countries. Although the United Kingdom has the longest history with women’s rights compared to the United States. The United Kingdom has not reached further than the United States. Progress has shown to be the slowest between both countries. Now, the United Kingdom’s pay gap is larger than the US. They both have to dedicate and truly focus on the subject in order to solve it.

The United States has shown progress in the gender pay gap but they can also learn from the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has a body of people that are dedicated to the subject matter. This effort can provide positives. Both the countries recently, have shown little interest in the matter and need to show initiative in order to produce change. This can increase productivity and economic factors that can benefit us all.  According to the World Economic Forum, if we keep this pace up, it will take 117 years to close the pay gap (Gapsquare). I think that it would take very long to achieve it and we should take every opportunity to achieve equality.  

 Sources:

Allen, Katie. "UK's Gender Pay Rankings Will Put Discrimination Under Spotlight | Business | The Guardian." The Guardian, 2 Apr. 2017, www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/02/uk-gender-pay-rankings-will-put-discrimination-under-spotlight.

Alter, Charlotte. "Equal Pay Day: Here's the History of the Fight for Equal Pay for Women | Time.com." TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates, 14 Apr. 2015, time.com/3774661/equal-pay-history/.

Bush, Mia. "US Women Make Strides Toward Equality, But Work Remains." VOA, 8 Mar. 2016, www.voanews.com/a/international-womens-day-us-women-gender-equality-work-remains/3223162.html.

Gapsquare. "Gapsquare: Reducing the Gender Pay Gap by a Century - Overview | MIT - Solve." SOLVE MIT, solve.mit.edu/challenges/women-and-technology/solutions/1400.

Gosling, Francesca. "Andrea Riseborough: I Have to Fight Twice in Two Weeks for Equal Pay." Independent.ie, www.independent.ie/entertainment/andrea-riseborough-i-have-to-fight-twice-in-two-weeks-for-equal-pay-36206356.html.

Pew Research Center. "Women in Leadership Positions | Pew Research Center." Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, 14 Jan. 2015, www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/01/14/chapter-1-women-in-leadership/.