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
firewolf64over 9 yearsYay for girl power!!!- firewolf64over 9 yearsYou go girl!
- firewolf64over 9 yearsWoman should be paid just as much as men! We are all created equal! emily2146073, I agree with you all the way! Women deserve WAAAAYYY more than they actually recieve!
squadwapover 9 yearsI highly disagree with a lot of these comments, and sometimes I feel like some people are being rude to the people who disagree with Feminism, but that is just my opinion.
felicisowlover 9 yearsIt's true. Disagreeing with feminism is NOT sexism. There is just a difference between feminism and equality, and people are confusing feminism and equality.
emily2146073over 9 yearsYou go girl! what a good idea. I do not think it is fair that women are being payed less than men. they should be equal.- Girlover 9 yearsIs the average of a woman's salary of those who work or all? (Some women don't work and help manage the house and kids, meaning that would lower the average women salary.) Also, what if a husband just gets their wife to go there and shop for both of them if there's a discount? XD But in overall I agree that people should be treated the same as long as they are both putting the same amount of effort and all that. :) (It depends. Like making people pay different prices? There's a lot of factors to consider. :P )
soccergirl00over 9 yearsI strongly agree with Elena, and also Anne who posted on this article, as well. Women of America and the world should be payed and treated with equal rights. It's just pure sexism. I support this project entirely and hope that it will change everywhere. Plus, even men are agreeing with this because they believe that they should be getting equal rights with the women.- Anneover 9 yearsRedheadperson22, I was stating my opinion too. The reason the definition you found was about women's rights was and not men's too is because men ALREADY have rights. We (America) may not have sexism as bad as some other countries, but we still have it. Did you even read my ENTIRE comment? Women only get 77 cents for every dollar a man gets. That's a lot in the long run. That's also a form of sexism, in case you didn't know. Also, I used "some guy" as an example because some people feel that way about sexism just because someone said that to them. I used guy as in person, not man. Though, may I ask, what facts have you actually seen? I used "angry men brainwashed our society" the same way you used "feminists have brainwashed our society". Not all men are angry about feminism, the same way NOT ALL FEMINISTS HAVE BRAINWASHED OUR SOCIETY! So, if you don't think I should say that, you shouldn't say that. I think that people who don't agree are people who either haven't seen all the facts, or are people who don't have their facts straight. Some of those people COULD be angry men or people influenced by them, we'll never know for sure. On that note, though, I never said that those people are either angry men or people who are influenced by them. And lastly, I wasn't trying to argue either, I was just telling you to get REAL facts.
- squadwapover 9 yearsReal feminists are called equalists, believing everyone ever, men, women, children, diffrent races, can all have a great life and live equally. Feminists have drove away from that consent nowadays, focusing on problems we can't fix.
sammie611over 9 yearsi think that that store is amazing and that women need to be payed as much as men
vikingkid8over 9 yearsredheadedperson22 I strongly disagree with you. Feminism isn't something we can help. You make it sound like people can choose weather or not they're feminine. We should all be treated the same, and unlike you said, in most places, females ARE treated lower than men are. women and men are equal. You said to research. And you did. Just in the wrong place. The internet is full of lies and we shouldn't trust what it says unless it comes from a very reliable source. I don't think Elana should discriminate men by making them pay more, like you said. But, people can't help weather they're female or male. (No Offense) :-)
redheadperson22over 9 yearsNone taken what so ever :). But I think you misunderstood some of my comment. Being feminine and feminism are to COMPLETELY different things. I know that people can't help whether they're a man or a women. But again, think you misunderstood me. Also, I want to point out the fact I emphasized the fact I was talking about in America. And I was just using Google as an example. The internet, of course, isn't always reliable. But then again, this is the internet. And you're relying of the information given here. I get you're point, I'm just saying :). I still don't agree with what this women's doing, but hey, that's just me. I don't have a problem with people who do agree. Most of them probably well-informed, intelligent people. Thanks for being so polite!
