Recently the US Women’s Soccer Team won the World Cup. To my surprise, their prize money was less than one-seventeenth the amount given to last year’s men’s champions. As women struggle to show our equal ability and demand equal pay, this fact upset many.
American women earn about 75% of what men earn in the same jobs. Our nation touts the ideal of equality, yet we struggle to live it out. To fully realize this ideal, first steps involve knowledge and next steps require action.
To make equal pay, women must be considered equal in duty. So, we must consider both paid and unpaid work. In most countries, men spend more time on leisure while women do unpaid housework.
In 2010, American women spent 30 minutes more caring for household members and 40 minutes more on daily housework than men. That 70 extra minutes a day affects our equality at paid work, with leisure time, and with education opportunities.
To be truly equal, our nation must understand that paid work and unpaid work both hold important places in our homes and lives. That men should share more equally in the unpaid work. That unpaid work, care of home and family, deserves the same respect as paid work.
When more people respect unpaid work as important, our society may treat all more equally. Until then, divide the housework evenly and relish the equality you are living out!
I’m Elsa Glover and that is my perspective.
