Michelle Hennessy – News Writer
Since the Equal Pay Act signed by President Kennedy in 1963, the push for equal pay has been rising. Yet even today in 2014, a wage gap still exists between gender, race and sexuality. Throughout this article, discrimination in the workplace between different people will be examined, highlighting the different issues people continue to face, despite decades of fighting for equality.
WOMEN
While the discussion of discrimination against women is nothing new, the wage gap that exists is still prominent, according to graduate intern at the Women’s Center, Julian Wilson.
“I’m really not surprised at that at all, especially when you’re looking at the education field and things like that, or nursing where it’s always been typically women but if you get a man in there they get promoted really quickly,” said Wilson. “You see that sort of discrimination happen instantly.”
According to the American Association of University Women, among full-time workers, women are paid 77 percent of what men were paid. Wilson said part of this is to do with men’s attitudes on the job.
“It’s acceptable for guys to aggressively negotiate their wages whereas if a woman does it, they tend to be punished, so that’s a reason why they don’t get paid as much,” said Wilson. “I feel as though guys are taught to over value themselves so they seek the highest position possible. I think they’re taught to negotiate the best deal possible, and that’s what society expects them to do so they get rewarded for it.”
Wilson said part of the issue is how little people are aware of discrimination in the work place. He said even discrimination against African-American women can vary, depending on skin color.
“There’s even discrimination with skin variations in black people and that was something that I didn’t know until my class this year, and I’m a grad student,” said Wilson. “But they found that black women, the darker skin they have, the less they get paid. So there’s discrimination even within the same race.”
The gender wage-gap is something widely discussed in politics, with Forbes quoting President Obama’s State Of The Union Address as saying that the economy is stronger when “our wives, our mothers, our daughters can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace,” and that women should earn a “living equal to their efforts.”
Southern student and member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority Katelyn Hill, said she personally knows women who have been paid lower than their male counterparts.
“She realized her fellow co-workers, who were male, were getting more money than her,” said Hill. “When she went to speak to her boss about it, she found out it was a non-spoken policy. She was probably 18 and she was doing the same amount of work as they were doing. I think if we’re doing the same amount of work, we should absolutely be getting paid the same.”
Hill said becoming informed while at college is a good way to break the cycle and end discrimination in the workplace.
“Honestly, taking Women’s Studies courses I think is a great idea. I took one last semester and it really opened my eyes and other student’s eyes to what’s going on in the world,” said Hill. “There’s also a lot of things going on around campus, I think Southern’s good at that, there’s Prism and then there’s sororities that are really big on women empowerment.”
But her sorority sister Sam Traylor said more could still be done around campus to raise awareness for the issue.
“I’ve seen them do a couple of things, but not very much,” said Traylor. “I could be bias, I’ve come from [Goucher College] that had a very active feminist collective and they would do things all the time.”
While discrimination occurs all over the United States, the AAUW reports Wyoming as being the worst state for pay equity, where women are paid just 64 percent of what men are paid. Though maternity leave may affect the results, its report shows that among mostly childless, full-time workers, one year after college graduation, women were paid just 82 percent of what males were paid.
Traylor said maternity is often used as an excuse for unequal pay, when in fact women deserve to make a living just as much as their male peers.
“Women need to be able to take care of themselves, if they’re not given the same financial opportunity then it’s not fair.”
SEXUALITY
Gay rights have also been gaining momentum in the last few years, with Employment Non-Discrimination Act and same-sex marriage all gaining more support. But Russell Smith, advisor to Southern’s Prism club, said discrimination in the workplace against the LGBT community is still very much a prominent issue.
“I have the privilege of working at an institution of higher learning, and one that has sexual orientation as part of its non-discrimination statement,” said Smith. “I also live in a state in which I cannot be fired for being gay. For those reasons, I do not fear being out at work, nor do I fear being paid less than my non-LGBT peers. Not everyone lives in a state with this protection, and not everyone works for an entity that has committed to not discriminate. Until we have protection at the federal level, this will continue to be a hardship for LGBT individuals, and people wrongly perceived to be LGBT.”
According to the William’s Institute, between 16 and 18 percent of LGBT people report experiencing employment discrimination. It said gay men earn 10 to 32 percent less than similarly qualified heterosexual men. Smith said the Employment Non-Descrimination Act would help put an end to this discrimination.
“ENDA would greatly enhance the status of lesbian, bisexual, and gay members of our society by making sexual orientation a protected class that cannot be discriminated against in employment situations,” said Smith.
But he said even this act could potentially not include gender expression, leaving transgender individuals outside of this protection.
The Center for American Progress said transgender people are sometimes hit the hardest in terms of wage inequality, with 15 percent reporting a rate of poverty nearly four times that of the general population. The Williams Institute also stated how transgender people report high rates of unemployment and very low earnings.
Smith said Connecticut ranks higher than most of the other states in terms of equality, he said how members of the LGBT community “enjoy employment protection, the freedom to marry legally, and political leaders from our state and neighboring states who are willing to speak out on the issue of LGBT Rights.”
But with recent developments in other parts of the United States making the news for their stance against gay rights, Smith said there’s a long way to go to end discrimination.
“Arizona’s law would have made it legal to refuse to provide service based on religious objections,” said Smith. “I see this as a thinly-veiled loophole that makes discrimination legal, and it’s reprehensible.”
Smith said this is an issue that has also affected Kansas, where he’s from.
“We saw similar bills to this fail in other states earlier this year, including in Kansas. It was particularly stinging to see this kind of hate, disguised as policy, coming from my home state,” said Smith. “In Kansas, the bill was never actually put up for a final vote because, allegedly, it was realized just how truly bad for business such a policy is.”
In places like Russia, there are laws in place that allow for fining openly gay individuals, with foreigners also facing 15 days of prison and deportation from the country, according to the Council for Global Equality.
Smith said America now needs to do more to end these laws and inequality.
“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an amazing speech to world leaders at the UN concerning the dignity and treatment of LGBT individuals that made very clear the standpoint of America on the issue,” said Smith. “We have work to do at home and abroad to live up to the standard this speech set.”
RACE
Despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawing segregation across the United States, racism is still something that affects many ethnicities nationwide. According to The American Prospect, African American men have 72 percent the average earnings of comparable white males. NAACP member Widline Brumaire said the reason a lot of it goes unfought is because of fear in this tough economic climate.
“No one want to lose their job, no one wants to really question it,” said Brumaire. “I think a lot of people will just sit there and take it when in actuality you have the right to say no, this is not how this is supposed to go, this is not how it’s supposed to be.”
According to findings from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, applicants with “white-sounding names” are 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview than applicants with “African-American sounding names.” The findings also showed how applicants with “white names” need to send about 10 resumes to get one callback, whereas applicants with “African-American sounding names” need to send about 15. Brumaire said this comes as no surprise to her.
“I do believe that’s true, I think people that have different names, employers will see that on applications and they’ll judge that straight away,” said Brumaire. “I think people do get judged on their name and that’s unfair.”
Non-white females bear the biggest brunt of racial inequality, with Information Please, part of the Pearson Education Company, releasing statistics that showed how Hispanic women earned on average 60 percent of a white male’s annual salary, and African-American women earned 69 percent of their salary.
Brumaire said she’s experienced inequality in the workplace in the past and said it’s something that needs to be addressed “as soon as possible.”
“At my previous job, the minimum wage at the time was somewhere around seven-fifty, seven-seventy-five, and I was getting paid like the exact seven-fifty or seven-seventy-five, whereas everyone else was getting paid eight-ten, eight-thirty,” said Brumaire.
She said she believes the wage gap was down to her appearance.
“Because I was a woman and because I didn’t fit the attractive look for my boss,” said Brumaire. “It was myself and then Hispanic women with you know, the flowy hair, nice make-up, and then the men were kind of stockier, lazier, laid-back, got to do whatever they wanted to do. And here I am, trying to work hard, I’m not the curviest – I take pride in myself of course – but to be paid less just because of qualities? I don’t like that.”
Advisor to Southern’s NAACP said there are six “game changers” that students focus on to raise awareness for: civic engagement, education, health, criminal justice and economic equality.
“There will be different things done, but the main thing is to get the information out about what the NAACP stands for and know that it’s not a black and white thing,” said Anderson. “We want students to be aware of that.”
Anderson said above everything else, people need to stand united to end discrimination.
“You have a voice, and you should be able to express your opinion and your voice without it being taken negatively.”