Equal Pay Day; a day almost nobody knows about, yet its importance is not hindered. It is the day a woman finally makes as much as a man does within a year, and it will be observed on April 12 of this year.
It signifies the extensiveness of the gap between men and women in a professional job setting and just how much the gap varies according to each profession. To put it into perspective, nationwide women make 79 cents to every dollar a man makes.
This doesn’t take into account different types of jobs, various skills or levels of education, or women who lose job opportunities and promotion opportunities when caring for children.
Experts say that Maryland has the lowest pay gap because of its educated workforce, but females who work in Maryland’s governor’s office currently make 68 percent of what their male co-workers do, according to The Washington Post.
North Platte High School senior Clover Doherty believes that most women are unaware of pay gap or believe that because it is already happening it should stay that way. “If roles were reversed, society would be taking this more seriously…but women are just swept under the rug,” said Doherty.
President Barack Obama proposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which loosened the limitations on which someone may sue an employer for discrimination against them based on gender, race, age, or disability.
This has helped with making the pay gap smaller. In January of this year, Obama announced a new rule stating that companies will have to report pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity.
The rule will be complete in 2016, and first reports are going to be due in September of 2017, according to CNN. “The notion that somehow we would be keeping my daughters…or any of your daughters out of opportunity, not allowing them to thrive in every field…it’s counterproductive,” said Obama.
Doherty also believes that we need to strive as a society to make it where everyone: the LGBT community, women, and men, are treated equally. “People say ‘Oh it doesn’t affect me’ or ‘I don’t need it’, but just because [equal pay] doesn’t directly affect you, doesn’t mean you don’t need to fight for it. It’s not a joke, this is definitely real” said Doherty.