Right now, women face a wage gap in every single state. For those of you who don’t know what that means it’s simple: women are paid on average 79 cents on the dollar for doing the same job as a man. And the wage gap isn’t a symptom of women being less educated. Women with doctoral degrees are paid less than men with master’s degrees, and women with master’s degrees are paid less than men with bachelor’s degrees.
But the wage gap doesn’t just exist across gender. The racial wage gap in America has not changed in thirty five years. New data from the Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics cites that black men earned 73% of white men’s hourly earnings in 2015 — the exact percentage they earned in 1980. So how do we fix this?
Well luckily we can turn to the wisdom of a 14-year-old. That’s right, Owen Pallenberg wrote another poem for us. This time the incredible young man is left to wonder why we’re not doing anything about the wage gap in America.
When we asked Owen why he wrote the poem he said, “I decided to write about the issue of the gender and race Wage Gap in our country because it is a very serious problem that has been recently overlooked due to the issues with President Trump, Syria, Health Care, and in honor of Mother’s Day and the first annual 50/50 day.”
Presented in full. We give you “79 Cents” by Owen Pallenberg:
A woman makes on average 79 cents to the man’s buck,
So the woman makes less because of her chromosome’s luck.
This problem in our nation needs to end,
Because yes, a woman makes less...I know it’s hard to comprehend.
Minimum wage in California is $10.50 for a man,
More like $8.92 for a woman, making it hard to create a viable financial plan.
People claim that this gap is just a myth,
But it’s a proven fact that they’re losing out on more than one fifth.
The gap just gets worse for married women, women of color, and even mothers,
Ridiculous, I know. Shouldn’t we all get paid the same as one another?
Why are women blamed for things they can’t control,
Once men and women are equal, we will finally reach our ultimate goal.
Just take a look at the US Women’s National Soccer Team,
They earn about 25% of what the men make, which is really quite extreme,
Even though the women generate more revenue and won the World Cup,
They get paid much less to lace them up.
Black women make 63 cents to the man’s buck,
And Latina women earn only 54 cents, so I guess they’re just out of luck.
Deniers of these stats are obviously citing the alternative facts,
Because it is quite clear that women receive a sales, property, income, and “woman” tax.