Persistent Sexual Inequality

Persistent Sexual Inequality

By Rick Smith

"When we talk about equal pay for equal work, women in the workplace are beginning to catch up. If we keep going at this current rate, we will achieve full equality in about 475 years. I don't know about you, but I can't wait that long."

-Lya Sorano, American women's rights activist.

Second-wave feminism brought about changes to the attitudes of not only the fence-sitting women, but also an unprecedented number of men. One of the great achievements of the era was the legal equality of men and women in the workplace. Even so, the reality that men still hold all of the highest positions, especially where they hold authority over female workers, persists to this day. The enlightened age that we live in has neglected women because legislating laws to force employers to pay women the same for the same work has diluted the majority into believing that this is enough. The facts state that women on average earn less than men, and that divorced and retired women are much more likely to live in poverty than their male counterparts.

Legislating equality in the form of demanding that for the same amount of work a woman must be paid the same as a man was one step in the right direction. Sadly, the more complicated matters became the less support the feminist movement received. It was expected that with this implemented, the hard-working women would skyrocket to the top, leaving the weaker ones at the bottom in true capitalist fashion. The theory by those who compromised with the demands of the feminist movement was that if hard-working men made it to the top and those that were not hard-working did not succeed, the same would apply to women. In the real world, those men at the top had got there by ruthlessly stepping on ethnic minorities and women, using them as cheap labour or as in some form of servitude. Just like the males who were expected to compete when those higher up held so much leverage over them, women found themselves unable to break through to the higher ranks of society without marrying rich. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, today women earn 75.5 cents for every dollar that men make. Also, while women’s income shrank by 0.6 percent between the years 2002 and 2003, the average income for a male remained unchanged. This represents a 1.4% backslide in the gender wage ratio, the largest since 1991. Adding to the disproportional impact on the quality of life for women, the poverty rate for households headed by women increased to 28 percent in 2003. A stagnant or declining economy, such as the one experienced at this time, means that those sectors with less job security - which incidentally employ women more than men - will face the hardest times. Dr. Barbara Gault, Director of Research for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, suggests raising the minimum wage, improving enforcement of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws, and creating more family-friendly workplace policies.

Considering that discrimination plays such an alarming role in determining the way a woman lives, especially if she is single or widowed, then logically discrepancies in pensions would follow. Alas, despite Europe’s reputation for greater social liberalism and equality, female pensioners earn an average of 42 percent less than retired men. Since the occupational paths of men and women are very different, their choices in career lead to differences in pension plans. Nevertheless, the likelihood that 39 percent of retired women having been able to contribute to their pensions over unbroken careers as opposed to 85 percent representing a simple matter of different choices in life is unlikely. This results from a discrepancy in the power of men in unionized workplaces, mainly in primary and secondary industries, as opposed to service occupations as chosen by women. In the United States, 30 percent of women retire on a full state pension, while 85 percent of men retire on a full state pension, and therefore the problem of a lack of unionization among female occupations does not serve as an explanation for the pension gender gap. As for private pensions, 38 percent of women contribute to these, compared to 46 percent of men. This suggests that the issue is not with women’s drive to have a pension, but with a different source. Women were held back for centuries only to be thrust into the dog-eat-dog system constructed by males for their own benefit, and without any leverage the women faced an uphill battle for financial equality. When it came time to retire, they were still left without the independence that their male counterparts could enjoy, and it has plunged more elderly women into poverty that should be allowed in an equal society.

It is clear that after centuries of the male-dominated world building its wealth upon the backs of those they oppressed, to expect women to immediately be better off just because equal pay is legislated after centuries is ridiculous. It is only by overcoming social stigmas towards feminism that true equality can be reached, which is in turn the only way in which we can make progress. As long as half the population is under the thumb of the other half, there is no possibility of a lasting peace among or between the sexes.