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
- Squadwapover 9 yearsJust to let you Femmies know, if everything was upside down, men would be discriminated, nothing would be different.
noridogover 9 yearsWe don't want women to have more rights than men, we want them to have equal rights! That's what feminism is!
felicisowlover 9 yearsNo, not right now it isn't. Maybe in the future.. but.. I mean, EQUALITY is different from feminism. Feminism is favoring one gender over another.
squadwapover 9 yearswell, sometimes i feel like they don't.
- Honeybunz over 9 yearssad for mankind
- ytrghjkover 9 yearsthis is dicrimination
babybobover 9 yearsyou for one are definitley, absoloutley, correct
- ytrghjkover 9 yearsthis store has its own prejudices this store is sexist
redheadperson22over 9 yearsAnne, I'm reply to you because heyy literally said the exact same thing I did in a comment I previously posted. First of all, I never said that men shouldn't pay full price. I just said that they shouldn't pay more. Everyone should pay the same amount regardless of their gender. And I never said I was mad at feminism. I just said I don't agree with it. I found another definition. "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men". That definition does have the word equality in it. But it also implies that women aren't on the same level as men. And in this day and age (in America), that's simply not the case. And I didn't say any of the things I said about feminism because "some guy said it". I said it because that's what I believe and because I've seen facts to back it up. And there are women (who aren't me) that have said the same things. May I ask how "angry men" have brainwashed our society? Because (at least here) most of the people seem to agree with what is woman's doing. So do you think that the people who don't agree are either "angry men" or influenced by them. And lastly, I wasn't really trying to argue. I was really just stating my opinion.- #99problomsover 9 yearswhy cant people be treated farily
- ...............over 9 yearscool
- Supover 9 yearsThis was cool
- tomboy #1over 9 yearsI thought women's/girls rights were solved along time ago... Why can't people just treat female, the same way they treat male? Its just different gender!
superfun11over 9 yearsYou know your stuff. I agree with you. It was decided a long time ago that women should be treated fairly.
tripsechoover 9 yearsOk For any people who didn't understand my earlier comment, I was being the devils advocate. That means I am defending something I believe in to show a different view. I believe in equality for races and gender. I know it is wrong, but eventually it will be equal. Look, women used to get paid next to nothing. Now maybe 70 years later, they are making circa (around) three fourths of what men make. In my opinion that is a great improvement. I believe within the next 100 Years Gender equality will be compromised and created to make fairness. Just to make to sure my point gets across, I believe in gender equality. And if you are believe I am sexist, which some people have ( Thanks to All Others who understood my comment) I am not sexist. And if you want to call me sexist, waste your time. I may sound blunt here, but I really couldn't care less about it. Additionally everybody has the Freedom to speak what they believe ( There Are Certain exeptions IE yelling fire at a theater which you should never do ) and there is the freedom of the press. Thanks For Your time And Let's Keep fighting for equal rights!
