I got an email today from Make It Work about a new project they’re launching. They pose the question to women: “What would you do with the money?” if you got equal pay with men, and asked us to pin our answers on Pinterest. I’m not on Pinterest, and don’t want to expand my social media profile, so I’m posting my answer here at Daily Kos instead.
Here’s the Make It Work email:
Last month, Hollywood superstar Sandra Bullock spoke to Variety about the absurdity of the #LadyTax — the fact that women make anywhere between $11,000 to $25,000 less than men each year.
And she nailed it:
“Once we start shifting how we perceive women and stop thinking about them as less than, the pay disparity takes care of itself. There’s a much bigger issue at hand. I’m glad Hollywood got caught...
I want [my son] to think I am the boss and women are equal... I hope in my lifetime, for him, everything is a level-playing field. We can hope.”
She’s right about everything, except this —we can do more than hope.
We can speak out, like Sandra Bullock did, about how the #LadyTax is hurting women across this country. Millions of women are losing thousands of dollars each year. Money that could be used to pay off student loans, buy groceries, pay the rent, or to download Adele’s latest album. (Hello!)
It’s time to stop worrying about what’s polite, and start worrying about what is hurting millions of women across the country.
And today we’re launching a new project to help you do that:
If you’re on Pinterest, go to one of your existing boards and pin what you would do with the money you’re not getting because of the wage gap. We’ll be watching all the pins, and sharing our favorites across the internet. Make sure you tag it with #LadyTax, so we can see it!
Can you take a quick moment to pin what you’d do with the money?
Me? I’d spend my #LadyTax money on:
- New windows for my house (winter is coming, and it’s cold in Michigan!)
- Christmas gifts for my friends and family
- A one-way ticket to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico. Just kidding, I guess I’d have to come back sometime (though preferably after it’s done snowing here).
Stay creative — and help us highlight what the gap is costing real people like you. Thanks for everything!
And here’s my answer:
I'm retired - got my first paycheck in the 1960s, when the Gender Pay Gap was even worse, so even low-balling the gap, I'd say it cost me at least $600,000 over 50+ years. If they'd paid me what I'm worth, I'd be debt-free and my social security checks would actually cover my living expenses with some left over for things like donations to worthy causes, and getting dental work done without having to take out a loan. And I'd have been able to travel to all the places I'll never get to see.
There’s an old union song from the turn of the 20th century — Bread and Roses. The lyrics by James Oppenheim say:
As we go marching, marching
In the beauty of the day
A million darkened kitchens
A thousand mill lofts gray
Are touched with all the radiance
That a sudden sun discloses
For the people hear us singing
Bread & roses, bread & roses
As we go marching, marching
We battle too for men
For they are women’s children
And we mother them again
Our lives shall not be sweetened
From birth until life closes
Hearts starve as well as bodies
Give us bread but give us roses
As we go marching, marching
We bring the greater days
For the rising of the women
Means the rising of the race
No more the drudge and idler
Ten that toil where one reposes
But the sharing of life's glories
Bread & roses, bread & roses
Looks like the fundamental things haven’t changed all that much in a 100 years.
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