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
grindtimealmost 9 yearsi agree with Patricia- Maggie about 9 yearsMy last comment was supposed to say feminist. But I think i will stick with just Maggie.
- cool!!!!about 9 yearswomen rule
- headinbooksabout 9 yearsoh well WOMAN ROCK!!!1
- Making youthinkabout 9 yearsIf girls don't like paying more than why would you make guys
booklooverabout 9 yearsI noticed that mothers do alot like do the dishes, luandry,take care of the babies and sometimas also work so it should be fair if men would pay more.
genius1326about 9 yearsI concur
redheadperson22about 9 yearsfelicisowl, I completely get what you're saying. And I agree to some extent (I think you might have said the same thing previously, did that get deleted or something?). According to the Equal Pay Gap of 1963, it is illegal to pay someone less than another person just because of their gender. Since it is illegal, if the pay gap exists, then instead of opening stores like this, they should bring their problem to the police. There should be millions of women marching up to police stations everywhere and demanding that they're employers be thrown in jail. After all, they're supposedly breaking the law. My question is, why aren't women doing that? Why aren't feminist all over the US, raiding police stations and complaining? If the pay gap exists and everything is exactly how they're saying it is, that's exactly what should be happening. But it's not. And I seriously want to know why that is. But is the problem really women being paid less or women earning less? To be honest, I think feminist are really just trying to make it seem like women are still oppressed (in first world countries), when in reality, they aren't. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about gender equality. But I'm not all about feminism. Simply because, feminism isn't really about equality. It's about women. You could say that that's because men already have rights (and so do women, I say, at least in first world countries), but equality isn't just about "rights". Feminism is taking over our society, and the result isn't equality. It's discrimination and sexism and . Towards men. I'm definitely not saying that all feminist hate men. I'm saying that with all the emphasis all girls' and women's problems and struggles, men and boy are pretty much being left by the wayside. And I'm not saying that feminism is the direct source of that, but it's definitely helped. I'm not saying that feminism is a bad thing, in fact, it probably was a great thing back when women actually didn't have rights. But now, in 2015, feminism isn't the same as it was back then. And I'm just saying that I don't agree with it and I'd probably never consider myself a feminist. The same way I probably wouldn't join a group all that's about men and that's on the same level as feminism. I am a person who is interested in fighting for both genders when it's needed. And right now, because of the emphasis on feminism in our society, I'm really more interested in fighting for men. But that doesn't mean that women don't have problems. My point is that both men and women have problems and need help. But because I feel feminist really have a stronghold on our society; I feel the need defend men. But not a lot of people do. And think that's really sad. No offense taken :). Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know it was long :).
cheetahluveralmost 9 yearsToo much reading. 0.0 But good argument!- redheadperson22almost 9 yearsI know it was REALLY long. I'm sorry :).
felicisowlabout 9 yearsOh.. I get it! Feminism was (and maybe still is) a good idea. Women didn't have equal rights back then, even in first-world countries - but now it's gotten less severe. Everyone wants equality - but trying to enforce feminism in stores is a wrong idea, because then WOMEN are favored over men. I actually think Ms. Elana had the right intentions - but she didn't realize what she's doing for men. In general, men get paid a little more than women - but she didn't think that SOME women get paid more than men. Feminism or supporting men's rights isn't equality. I know that the people that support these two have right intentions, but they might tip the scale too far in wanting their gender to want equal rights. I see your point now :) I'm glad I took the time to read your side of the argument..- redheadperson22about 9 yearsI'm glad I took the time to read your side of the argument as well :). And I'd also like to thank you for being so polite. You seem like a nice person :).
- felicisowlabout 9 yearsThank you :]
- felicisowlabout 9 yearsTo redheadperson22, Honestly, 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. You 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 (and no offense)
- emily shortabout 9 yearswhat gave you the idea for this progect
- emily shortabout 9 yearsgreat idea i think you got your point across
