Recognizing that women’s soccer teams have, in recent years, been far more successful in championship play than men, the U.S. Soccer Federation recently agreed to pay male and female players equally.
I daresay that it’s about time. Way past time, actually.
Is it progress? Of course. Yet pay disparities persist in other walks of life.
Ostensibly, there are several protections on the books. The right of employees to be free from discrimination in their compensation is protected under four federal laws. Some states also have enacted relevant legislation.
The problem, however, continues to be pernicious. A United Nations agency called UN Women states that “Worldwide, women only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. ...This stubborn inequality in the average wages between men and women persists in all countries and across all sectors…”
I’ll say it plainly: for the most part, pay equity remains little more than a mirage.
Let us resolve to do what is both decent and right. Let’s pay one another fairly – and equally.
I’m Scott Summers, and that is my perspective.
