equal now, since not a lot of things are
still fair, but I think in regards to history
women have come a long way”.
What would you like to see changed in
the world for women?
“I want women to have equal rights. I
want them to be able to get the same pay
check that I get”.
What do you think of a day being
devoted to women?
“It
is
amazing.
I
think
it’s
beautiful
that
women
have a day to be celebrated. Women
deserve it!”
Wh€n will I r€c€iv€ my $alar¥?
Inequalities between men and women have existed for a really long time. Already during
the Greek and Roman ages, women were considered inferior to men. They did not have any
right to vote and were not allowed to participate actively in society. You might think this is
‘outdated’, but that is not true. Unfortunately, inequality still exists and a good example is the
phenomena of the so called ‘gender pay gap’. This is the difference in wages and salary between
men and women that have received the same education and that practise the same profession.
There are some great differences between the Western and Eastern societies. Also, the
wage gap is part of these differences. In Asia, especially in China, Japan and Singapore, the gap
between the two sexes origins from the culture and traditions. Examples of this are preventing
women from education, owning property or gaining employment. Therefore, women have
much lower salary expectations than males. They earn about half of what men earn for doing
the same jobs. The Japanese Prime Minister already turned this problem into the objective to
increase the female participation in society.
Moving to the other side of the Pacific Ocean. The USA also deal with the problem of the pay
gap. However, there women earn ‘only’ 20% less than men. This has to do with the gender
discrimination in the country. For reasons such as religion, ‘homophobia’ or rage, employers
might choose to not hire these people. Besides, members of so-called high-status group, which
in the US are whites and men, are more likely to receive favourable evaluations about
competence and legitimacy. In Europe women are expected to earn around 16% less than men.
Although, this already is a smaller difference than in Asia and the USA, the difference still exists.
The European Commission wants to prevent this by making laws that prohibit discrimination in
the workplace and by creating new pay systems.
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