Kerri Sleeman's goal is to make it known that the gender pay gap is not a myth. Fifty three years ago, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was established. It was called "Equal Pay Day" at the time. It was a symbolic moment where everybody recognizes that women's pays are catching up with the men's. It was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy. However, currently, women are still not being paid the same as the men in the United States.
"It's good to keep these stories on the forefront because it's so easy to say that it doesn't happen, or that it happens to uneducated women, or it happens only to the highly educated women, or whatever it is to make that excuse," Sleeman said. Freep has it that it happens at all levels, to all women, in all types of jobs.
According to the Census Bureau, female employees are being paid 79 cents compared to males that earn a dollar. In Michigan for example, the pay gap is bigger. Women there are paid 75 cents for every man's dollar.
Previously, Jennifer Lawrence and a host of other celebrities have taken a stand against the inequality of income towards women. In order for this issue to be fully recognized, one advocate mentioned: "Women, we must stand together and demand pay equity. If not, this issue will still be discussed when the 50-year-old Equal Pay Act turns 100," says Engineer Hughes in one of her previous AAUW posts.
Sleeman hopes it wouldn't come to that. Sleeman goes on to say that when people can talk about their salaries and wages, that is the first step to knowing if they are indeed being paid equally. The article mentions that gender bias is still one of the issues that are not being fully discussed.
