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
queen1018over 9 yearsi am a girl and i think that this article is inspiring. it is really sad that there is so much gender inequality in the world.- hiover 9 yearsEven though I am a girl but I think that it's fair because mens work harder than womens
meldomeneover 9 yearsthat's kind of sexist. when my father died my mother had to work to support me and my sister, and she worked very hard doing everything a man could do.
ccgirl02655over 9 yearsMen don't work harder than women. Personally, you might know a few men who worked really, really hard to get to where they are now, but that doesn't mean women don't work that hard
dogbearmooover 9 yearsCan you really say that because someone is a different gender they don't work as hard. In MY opinion it depends on the person not on their gender.
felicisowlover 9 yearsMen work harder than women? No. Please name one situation where men harder than women. For example, if they work as a cashier, they work just as hard. How can men work harder than women? It's not about working hard, it's just about how they're paid.
tripsechoover 9 yearsFor a reason and example of the Devils Advacate please read my Comment above.- felicisowlover 9 yearsYour comment above? Jobs like, oh I don't know, being a cashier at the supermarket. Or being a factory worker. Virtually 99% of jobs don't require strength! In farms they plant seeds, and take care of the animals. Not much strength needed there either. Plus, they work equally hard at the same job, and women get paid way less money - (it's devil's ADVOCATE, by the way, sorry, I'm a spelling freak lol, or not), so I think you're missing the point here.
crystalmoriover 9 yearsActually, a lot of strength is needed for farming. You don't just stick a few seeds in the ground and then come back and harvest them a while later. There's also digging up soil and turning it to get ready for planting. Let's not forget all the weeds that grow between planting and harvesting time! I've spent hours pulling those out, and some have strong roots over three feet down in the ground! So to get them fully out, you have to dig aaallll the way down there. It's pretty tiring.- felicisowlover 9 yearsTrue, but like you said, stamina is needed for that, not just strength. It's pretty even - 50% stamina/determination, 50% strength.
amyzover 9 yearsI don't think this is a good idea.
liezlover 9 yearsme too. I don't think this should carry on.- felicisowlover 9 yearsWhy? I don't understand. They pay the money based on how much they earn.
- meldomeneover 9 yearsi agree, but if the gov. starts paying both genders equally, both should pay equally.
- felicisowlover 9 yearsYes, of course! But looking at the situation now, women get paid less.
- happycamperover 9 yearsI like her idea a lot. I had no clue that that was happening! GO EQUAL RIGHTS!!!! YEAH!!
- dogbearmooover 9 yearsI knew that women get paid less than men but not that they would have to work an extra 3.5 months to get the same amount of money as a man.
- felicisowlover 9 yearsAs a girl myself, I think this should definitely change. This probably isn't the most groundbreaking, most horrible problem in the world right now, with all the wars and dictators, and it's gotten a lot better over the years. I recently read a book about women in the House of Representatives, and there's actually not that many. Seriously - men get 34 cents more than women, even though women work just as hard and do the same exact thing the men do? I'm surprised more men don't step up to stop this problem! And also some women don't even fight for women's rights, even in the 20th century, they just let men mold them into housewives. I mean, at least women can work and earn money, but this is definitely pretty bad. Plus, men get paid 5 times more than women in basketball teams - more than that! Come on! I'm actually pretty inspired by Elana Schlenker, and to the people who think it's kind of unfair.. well, she's basing how much you pay on how much you earn, so yeah, I do think it's fair. Only tennis players get an equal amount of money as men? Please. I read in that same book about women in the House of Representatives that in one year, Maine sent 2 senators and 2 representatives - all women! So alongside California, I think Maine is also the most progressive state. Please fix this problem, even if you are a boy and you don't think it has anything to do with you.. Don't you want the world to be fair? No matter what your skin color, gender, background, religion, etc., are, we should all be treated fairly and equally, because we're all human.
redheadperson22over 9 yearsI doubt there are that many woman nowadays whose husbands forced them to be housewives. The woman who are housewives, probably want to be housewives. And frankly, there's nothing wrong with being a housewife. In fact, I have very close relatives that are housewives, and they really enjoy it. And one more thing. This is 2015. What other rights do we (as American women) have to fight for? We're not even sure how real the pay gap even is. You seem very passionate about this. I applaud that. But you might want to consider doing more research before you completely form your opinion.- felicisowlover 9 yearsHonestly, I did do a lot of research on the matter, and I get that it is not all the time that men get paid more than women. But on general statistics, on average, yes they do. I don't agree completely because she's just basing this on the average.. but I don't know, there is a greater chance that a man walking into the store made more money that day than a woman walking in a store. Do you get what I mean? And both genders have their own virtues. We are created equally, and I think we should be paid equally (if we work at the same job). Another person said it - but 30 cents is a big deal. Look at the number of people who don't even have homes - they probably earn less than that every day.
- felicisowlover 9 yearsYou seem very firm and resolute about your opinion, and I agree. It's right. But if you look at it one way, both are right. I never said it was WRONG to be housewives, and I certainly never thought that way. My mom is a housewife myself. I said that in the 1900s most women were molded into housewives, even some that wanted to be more independent and have other jobs. I didn't phrase it completely right, but I meant that now, at least, women have their own freedom to choose their jobs instead of men choosing it for them. There are probably only like 0.001% women that are forced into jobs by men. I'm really sorry, but I think you just read my statement wrong. Thank you.
- meldomeneover 9 yearsi'm whith u on that. men and moman should be equall
shivi483over 9 yearsWho would do that but still clever in thinking about what she wants to do wi it
hemmguinover 9 yearsSomeone who wants men and women to be equal in society. Someone who knows the US is lying when they say that we are all equal because women get paid less. Someone who knows that some women work ten times harder than some men and still get paid less. Someone who is brave enough to step up and speak out against the little things like this. I understand that since you're a boy you don't think the pay gap is a big deal, but if you were to walk a mile in the shoes of a woman who gets less pay at a low-paying job just because of her gender, you would be thinking differently. I don't even have a job other than a student and I still think the pay gap is unfair. This woman is the answer to your question: SHE would do that.- felicisowlover 9 yearsWho would do that..? Someone who wants to take action and do something on the issue of feminism, that's who? Just because it's not "normal" just means she stepped out of that category and decided to do something about that. I agree with one thing, it is pretty "clever," but also really independent. I'm sorry, I just don't agree with your opinion.
- dogbearmooover 9 yearsit is awesome she opened that store
