Opinion: The way of the wage — two voices speaking about the truth of unequal pay

Hi. I’m Annabel Berin. I am a Caucasian women.

Hi. My name is Triston Walker. I am a Black gay man.

According to a recent statistic from AAUW,the women to male pay ratio is about 25:21 in the State of California. That means for every male earning a yearly salary of $50, 539, women will be earning $42, 486.

American women today are paid 79 cents to every dollar a man makes, and for women of color it’s even less.This comes to about a $10,000 wage gap between the salary of a man versus the salary of a woman.

For the same job, women every day are being denied equal pay due to our gender.

Due to our genitalia and the erratic fear of female power in the workforce, women who are just as, and usually more, capable of fulfilling executive positions are reputed from companies due to the predisposition that “men are more powerful.”

Men have an issue with sharing power. We feel it is our duty to wear the pants in the relationship, household, and workforce 24/7. This country feels the need to install “hypermasculinity” in our young men which only teaches them that femininity is a sign of weakness. This also teaches our young men that women are and should be thought of as second class citizens.

Welcome to the 21st century everyone. We’ve reached new heights, achieved profound successes, and yet, we still are treating people different due to their bodies.

Progress is less than where it needs to be. We are still fighting for true equality for every man, woman, and child. Whether gay, straight, bisexual, transgendered, White, Black, simply put equality is necessity for all. Unfortunately, we are fighting for something that may not ever exist.

The color of skin, ethnicity, and gender are unacceptable topics to refuse ones pay, access to benefits, or even the probability of them earning the job. The stripped down truth is simple, the only judgement that should come from deciding should come from ability. One’s ability will never accurately be proven by objectifying their features.

Although I am a man, I am still aware of the struggles that women face today in the workforce. The unfair pay and treatment are signals reinforcing that women in fact are second class citizens, and much more progress needs to come about. Women as well as men should have the ability to have the same job and earn the same pay for their duties rather than their gender.