On July 5th, 2015, the U.S women’s soccer team scored a 5-2 victory over Japan, making them the highest scoring team in the final of a women’s world cup game. All in all, the women’s team took home a sum of $2 million to share. In comparison, last year the U.S men’s team was awarded $8 million for losing in the first round of the world cup. This is a perfect modern day comparison of the inequality that is present between men and women.
Women make up nearly 50% of our workforce in the U.S, but workplaces are far from equal. Mary Briton, from Harvard University, believes that the root of our gender inequality problem comes from the way that women are perceived. It is universally believed that women focus more on home-based priorities. Despite this common belief, women do care about those things, but they still have the personal desire to go and achieve their goals. On the other hand, most people believe that men don’t make those things a priority, for themselves, so they give the more grueling, and prestigious jobs to them instead of women.
Another problem that stems from gender inequality within our workplace is the large income gap present between men and women. In 2013, female full-time workers made only 78 cents for every dollar made by men. Women on average, earn less than men in every single occupation there is. This fact is puzzling because in 4 out of 10 households, women are the primary breadwinners. Statisticians project that it will take over 44 years, or until the year 2058, before women will reach the equal pay of men.
These statistics continue to puzzle us every day, but despite what we want to believe, this the world that we live in. So don’t ever stop fighting for what you believe, because one day, women will be viewed as equal.