Feminist Discussion Group discriminates to demonstrate pay scale inequality
By Lauren Seynhaeve
This past week, a group of students tried to make a point by hosting an event intentionally discriminating against men: A "pay scale bake sale."
UP's Feminist Discussion Group put on the bake sale to promote awareness of pay inequity in the U.S. As a symbol of the pay scale disparity, women were asked to donate 75 cents for baked goods, while men were asked to donate $1 for the same item.
"I find it frustrating that a lot of people don't know or deny the pay scale inequities regardless of the extensive amounts of research and data on it," said senior and President of the FDG Fiona Campbell.
Throughout the country, women are paid less than men on average, and non-white women are paid less than white women, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. In fact, on average, a white woman earns $.78 to every dollar a white man earns.
"People don't quite understand the magnitude of this inequity," senior and member of the FDG Emily Douglas said. "Even I was shocked to see the extent to which this reaches."
Even in professions where women dominate the field, such as nursing, women make less average weekly earnings than men. A survey of wage discrepancies by occupation between the sexes done by the U.S. Bureau of Labor in 2008 shows that male nurses, psychiatric and home health aides earn $485 while women earn only $424.
"A lot of people incorrectly believe the difference in pay between genders is due to the fact that many women take time off to care for children," said senior and Vice President of the FDG Suzzane Cawthra. "However, the pay gap is still present among women that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, work full time."
All of the proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to the Council for Prostitution Alternatives, a group that helps women escape the sex trade.
"We've worked with them before, and they are a deserving group," said the adviser of the FDG and philosophy professor Jeffrey Gauthier.
Informational material was available at the bake sale, which included the entire list of occupations the U.S. Bureau of Labor compared, with prominent UP majors highlighted.
"I think that our main goal in hosting the Pay Scale Bake Scale is to not only raise awareness surrounding pay discrimination, but to also start a conversation surrounding it," Cawthra said.
The bake sale did educate some students.
"I knew of it, but I didn't know too much about it," senior Zubin Bagai said. "You kind of forget about it sometimes, so this helped."
That's the sort of reaction the Feminist Discussion Group hoped to evoke.
"We try to educate the community about the problems we see," Gauthier said. "We're dedicated to equality between men and women and we call attention to the problems."
Each week, the Feminist Discussion Group meets on Mondays from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Franz Hall 234. The group discusses articles and topics relevant to feminism, and invites newcomers to join the discussion.
"A lot of people assume that there is equality and don't realize some of the things that can go under the radar," Campbell said. "This is one of those issues."
