Pittsburgh Woman Creates Gender Pay Gap Awareness By Asking Men To Pay More
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At first sight, Elana Schlenker's pop-up store, Less Than 100, which was open in Pittsburgh during the month of April appeared just like any other gift store. However, when shoppers went to pay, they were in for a surprise. That's because while men paid full price, women received a 24% discount.
Though that may appear to be blatant discrimination, Elana was merely abiding by the store's slogan "pay what you are paid". And since women in Pennsylvania get paid an average of 76 cents for every dollar men earn for the same job, it is only fair that they pay less.
As if the store's pricing policy was not enough to get the message across, Elana also distributed pamphlets. Entitled "What Are Women Worth?", it explained the status of the wage gap both in Pennsylvania and across the country, and also gave women tips on how to better negotiate salaries. A 2015 study conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research found that although the rate of women's income has been rising, men still earn more in every state in the country.
But though paying women lower wages is a shame, forking out the full price at Less Than 100 wasn't necessarily a bad thing. That's because the proceeds of all sales went directly to the local artists that had created the beautiful wares. During its month-long tenure, the shop was visited by hundreds of women who wanted to support her mission and the local artists whose work was being showcased. Some even brought in their kids and grandkids to educate them about the importance of keeping the gender wage debate alive. Elana says that while she received some grief about the "discrimination," most men were extremely gracious and happy to pay the full price.
Not surprisingly, the unusual venture has drawn worldwide attention. This November, Elana will partner with photographer Tammy Mercure and open a Less than 100 pop-up store in New Orleans.She believes starting the debate in Louisiana is important given that the state boasts the nation's widest gender wage disparity. Here, women earn a whopping 34 cents less than their male counterparts. While she has received several requests from California, it may be close to the bottom of her list. That's because the "Golden State" is one of the most progressive when it comes to wage equality and, therefore, does not need much help.
Though the Less than 100 project will not resolve the wage disparity, it is a thought-provoking way to bring to the forefront an issue that is increasingly causing a lot of angst among women. Fortunately, Elana is not the only one trying to change the unfair system. Patricia Arquette made an impassioned plea for gender wage equality in her acceptance speech at the Oscars this February. Ellen Pao the interim CEO of Reddit recently announced that new employees will be forbidden from negotiating salaries. She believes that men are better negotiators than women, and, therefore, tend to receive higher wages!
What's encouraging is that male CEOs are also joining the fight! Earlier this month, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff launched a company-wide program to address the issue. Called "Women Surge" it aims to eliminate all gender-based pay disparities, hire and promote more women and ensure that they are better included in meetings! With all these visionaries taking the lead, it will not be long before gender pay inequality is something we will only read about in history books!
Resources: huffingtonpost.com,lessthan100.org,msnbc.com,abc.go.com
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296 Comments
- norsover 9 yearswhy should it matter to men if they have to pay more they get payed more then woman now. It shouldn't matter if men become the underdog because that's what women have been seen as for so long and they still are seen as an underdog today!!!! i think that company's like this should grow.
- norsover 9 yearsi believe that this should keep happening it's unfair to women if they are paid less. Men make more money even NOW so why should men have to pay the same amount of money as women. And it shouldn't matter if men become the underdog because women have been the underdog for so long!!!!! so why should it matter to boys/men?
- minecraft is awover 9 yearsGo women!!!
tashimioneover 9 yearsI am extremely glad for this. Some people are saying that this is in the past. But it is still happening now. This is not our past, this is our FUTURE. And this is still going on. People need to realize that women need to be treated just as equal as men... (like when boys/men say girls/women can't do something. An 83 year old woman climbed a mountain, for heaven's sake! I never hear of men doing things like that.)
felicisowlover 9 yearsPlease don't be unfair to the other gender. There are MANY great men and women. Susan B. Anthony, J. K. Rowling, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marie Curie, and many more that have helped shape society in different ways. But many men as well, like Albert Einstein, Newton, Neil Armstrong, and more. So both genders have done AMAZING things and really, and 83 year old woman climbing a mountain is AMAZING. Truly. It must have taken a lot of effort. But lots of men have climbed mountains, hurled down Niagara Falls, launched into space.. many more. I'm not supporting one gender more than the other. I'm just supporting equality.
cocolletteover 9 yearstotally agree.
jojodownsover 9 yearsGo women!!- duuudeover 9 yearsperson i totaly agree with you its not fair for men
- #whataboutlaterover 9 yearsFirst of all, if less than 100 becomes a chain of stores, by the time the gender pay gap is closed, there will be a lot of stores, right? So then the store will still charge more for men, which counts as discrimination. But less than 100 will still keep growing.... and most people won't know that the gap is closed...... more people might get ideas to fix the gap... what then??
- cocolletteover 9 yearsbut the gender gap WOULDN'T be closed without the store.
- personover 9 yearsWHY are people saying that its GOOD to treat men unfairly just because women were treated unfairly in the PAST????!!
- personover 9 yearsso basically most of the people in these comments are saying that making men pay more just because men got more rights than women in the PAST is FAIR?
- felicisowlover 9 yearsDear Tashimione: No offense.. but people are going to argue anyway if you post "not trying to argue" if they want to debate. Besides, it's fun trying to state your opinion and trying to get them to understand.
- tashimioneover 9 years(Note: Not trying to argue) This isn't in the PAST, like you say it is. Isn't this why they posted it? It's a current event. This isn't the past, this is now.
- tashimioneover 9 years(Note: I'm not trying to start an argument) You are saying "just because men got more rights than women in the PAST is FAIR?" Here's the deal. It's not in the past. It's happening right now.
- personover 9 yearsI Highly disagree with Elena about making men pay more. This is also how men could become the underdog. i think that just because men were treated better in the past doesnt mean that Elena or anybody can do the things that men did to them.
- felicisowlover 9 yearsI think I agree :) Thank you!
