Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Mama Pay Gap

Bill Singer has a great piece on Huffington Post about the pay gap between working mothers and everybody else.  Mothers make about 25% less than our working peers.  This used to be explained by pointing out that men were the real breadwinners and mothers played a supporting role, but now we all know that's BS.  I don't know a family where the mother's pay doesn't contribute in some way to the running of the family.  Even if Mom's salary just covers daycare or savings or the phone bill, she should be paid equally. 

Our child-free sisters do all right and make as much as the boys.  As soon as we gain the 'mama' moniker our lifetime income goes down, a lot.  Think about it this way, women are not penalized alone, whole families lose income.  It's not sex discrimination but mother discrimination.  No wait! It's discrimination against families!  How's that for American family values?!

And don't forget that about 40% of babies are born to unmarried mothers and a significant, but not a majority, of those moms are doing it all by themselves with no father/partner.  So are we saying that her kids don't deserve a decent life and economic security?!

We have to speak up.  We have to demand equal pay.  We can learn more about the issue .  We can demand our representatives support the Paycheck Fairness Act.  We can talk to other women about their choices and working life.  We need to unite and demand to be treated like the equal, vital, and powerful individuals we are. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

ShareThis