This is an action project for my core class Equality. In this unit, we spent our time looking at the inequalities of race, class, and gender. We took a deep dive into each subject and listened to different stories from people who have experienced inequality. We listened to a podcast about a racist school, we read stories of "micro"- aggressions, and we played monopoly except each player plays in a different class. For example, I was lower class and I started with only five hundred dollars whereas my opponent had 2500 dollars to start. I was limited and very susceptible to taxes and bankruptcy. I enjoyed the different stories that we listened to because it allowed me to get a new perspective on things that people do. For this AP we were tasked with envisioning a policy change in the year 2122. The policy I chose to change was the equal pay act because it hasn't limited some businesses from paying women less than men
SCRIPT:
(March 4th, 2122)
The Start of New Change
Intro - Today is the day to come together and take time to reflect on the past. When I say the past, I am referring to the history of something. This history is one of the most important histories to understand as it is one that concerns millions of people. The history of women's inequality and the time when women were paid less than men in the workplace.
Let’s start in the beginning of the fight for women’s rights, before the year 1920. Women didn’t have the right to vote and they had to fight for equality. As long as women lived, men were always seen as higher than them. It took activists more than 100 years to be able to win the right to vote. But, on August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment was passed saying that all women have the right to vote. This was just the beginning of the fight for women’s rights. For the next 100 years, women were slowly gaining their rights, but they were still seen as inferior or weaker which in turn made men who hired women to pay them less.
There has been a stereotype forced on the backs of women. The stereotype is that women are not fit to be a leader or even a follower. For years, women have had to live in, “a man’s world,” and aren’t given the same opportunities as men. They have always been seen as less than but this gross inequality is something that shows what men thought about women throughout time.
Here we hear from a good friend of mine, Jessica Wittika. She says, “Over the years, we have heard of the time when women were paid less than men. This is something that my grandmother had to fight for. She spent a lot of her youthful days fighting for equality and spending her time in the streets protesting. I am here to follow in her footsteps and not only fight for equality but live for equality.”
In 1963, president John F. Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act into law, prohibiting sex-based wage discrimination between men and women performing the same job in the same workplace. Yet this act wasn’t enough to stop managers and company owners from discriminating against women and still paying them less. That’s why the reformed equal pay act was established. To stop businesses from preventing women from earning more money.
Statistically, women were paid less than men. Every dollar a man earned, a woman would earn 78 cents. It may not seem like a lot but when it stacks up, it totals to be $37,000 a year for men whereas a woman would only earn $29,200 yearly if the man was paid about $20 an hour. It is also not just about the money. The fact that women were paid less when men and women were working at the same time and amount, shows the amount of inequality that women had to face in the workplace. In the peak era of inequality (2022), most single-family homes in America are ones where it’s just the woman and her kids. In this situation, the mother is working just to survive, so it is unfair that they have to fight for equality, and sustainability.
Conclusion - Since the reformed equal pay act was established, women have been promoted to be equal to men in the workplace. This new act states that any woman who works in a paid business, has the right to be paid equal to or more than men and it is illegal to pay a woman less. The world should strive for equality. The reformed equal pay act is just the beginning of true change. Hopefully soon, the act will be edited and changed for the people who don’t identify as a man or woman, but for now, the world needs to come together to change the world for the better and this is the perfect time to start.
Outro:
I really enjoyed the process of creating the video for this Action Project. I was able to research and understand the pay gap more and I also really enjoyed the editing of the video. The thing that was challenging was reading my script for the video because I couldn't get it perfect. If I could change one thing I would change the script and update it a little bit so it sounded better. Overall this was a good unit and I am proud of this AP. I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next term.
Works Cited:
https://winona.lib.mn.us/adults/womens-suffrage-booklist/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rigid-gender-roles-enemie_b_8184256
https://ww3.aauw.org/article/50-years-after-the-equal-pay-act-parity-eludes-us/
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