Women: doing it all on less pay since the dawn of time
Here’s something I know for sure: being a woman is pretty great.
Being cared for and loved by women is pretty great. Being supported by women? Pretty great. And I mean all women, cis-gender, trans and anyone else who identifies with the lived experience of being a woman.
And women had some big wins in 2021.
The UK and Namibia abolished the period tax and France made period products free at universities. The Tokyo Olympics were the most gender-equal Olympics to date and two folks who identify as gender-non binary or trans also competed. Samoa and Estonia both elected their first female prime minister and 4 female pilots made history when they piloted an Air India plane around the world. New Zealand passed a bill guaranteeing bereavement leave for miscarriages and stillbirths. Sidebar: It would be nice to see abortion covered in that bereavement bill.
We’re making strides, certainly and I think we can agree that women are basically the best, right?
So why are we still, in 2022, faced with a wage gap, widened by the pandemic, that ranges between 20% for white women and 55% for trans women of colour? The answer to that Q is in all the links below. I’ll leave it to you to research but for now, let’s look at some intel.
“The gender pay gap is not closed despite the fact that women have begun to outnumber men when it comes to pursuing university degrees. Approximately 56% of post-secondary students in Canada are women. Women who graduate from University with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $69,000 annually while men who graduate with a bachelor’s degree earn $97,000 annually.
Women today are pursuing demanding careers and moving into management and leadership positions however, only three of the hundred highest-paid positions in Canada were filled by women in 2016. The underrepresentation of women in top-earning positions contributes to slower progress and efforts to close the gender pay gap.”
What I find fascinating about the subject of money, women and the inequity and inequality we face in the workforce and via the wage gap is that the women are the ones to offer up $500 if they have it for someone they love who’s in need.
We’re making less but offering up what we do have faster.
Early in the pandemic and throughout 2021, I experienced significant income loss and the people who consistently came to my aid financially and otherwise were women.
Even though we earn less.
Even though we pay tax on period products.
Even though we pay more (pink tax) for our razors and shaving cream.
Even though we are consistently and systemically under-resourced financially.
It is women who open their hearts, their hands and their wallets when someone they love is in need.
I celebrate all women every day and International Women’s Day seems like a good day to shine a light on all of the ways women outdo themselves, whether they’re resourced or not, every single day.
It also seems like a good day to shine a light on how women are systemically under-resourced financially still in 2022.
As women, we live with inequity and inequality in all parts of our lives for our whole lives. We are demonized and canonized and still aren’t seen as good enough. I have many, many thoughts on this subject but I will leave you with this question for now:
What would life be like, for everyone, if the pay gap was abolished and we were paid the same as our male counterparts?