You and I think it's annoying and unfair that we earn up to 23 percent less than our male counterparts for doing exactly the same work.
In some fields, the gap in pay between men and women dwarfs that amount so dramatically it's morbid.
Take sports.
Imagine being a female athlete — say, a professional women's soccer player on Team USA who just kicked ass in the FIFA Women's World Cup. Amid the glory of your victory you learn that your male counterparts were awarded more than 17 times the money you are.
According to a media release sent out by a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Soccer Caucus, FIFA is giving $2 million to the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, which won the Women's World Cup last week.
That's funny. The team that won the men's World Cup last year, Germany if I recall correctly, was awarded $35 million.
Super-lame, no?
Smacks of millennia-old attitudes about gender we really ought to be too smart to hang onto by now, yes?
If only we could all sprout dongs every time we have to negotiate our pay.
Castor would like to see the pay gap, and all others pertaining to gender, close.
That's why, as the team was honored this morning in a ticker tape parade in New York, she and Democratic Congresswoman from New York Carolyn Maloney filed a bill mandating equal pay for women, including those lady soccer players.
“The Women’s World Cup this year brought record-breaking attendance and viewership and we are urging that FIFA treat the female champions equitably and also devote more resources to the growing women’s sport,” Castor said in a media release.
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2015.