why are men still paid more than women for equal work?
The wage gap is not a new concept. In fact, the issue was first addressed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when second-wave feminists called attention to the clear economic inequality between the genders. Several laws were passed in an effort to ensure equal pay and lack of discrimination based on sex, and many people considered the problem solved. Unfortunately, as the vastly different wages between male and female actors show, wage inequality is still a very real, lingering problem. (1)
“I have never seen anyone who has done a fair-minded study who fails to find there’s a residual amount of discrimination against women. The difference cannot be attributed to completely innocent explanations.”
-- Gary Burtless, economist at the Brookings Institution (2)
To prove the relevance of the issue, Patricia Arquette used her acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 2015 Oscars in order to make a call to action to Hollywood to fix this long overdue problem. Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, and Hillary Clinton were among those supporting Arquette's cause. (2) |
Footnotes: (1) Murphy,
Megan. "Gender and Sexual Politics." Introducing the New
Sexuality Studies. Ed. Steven Seidman, Nancy Fischer, and Chet Meeks. 2nd
ed. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011. 492-95. Print. (2) http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/26/patricia-arquette-hollywood-pay-gap-hillary-clinton (3) https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/#!prettyPhoto/0/