You would think that women and men have equal pay now right? I mean don’t women have the same rights as men, isn’t any woman just as equal as any man but the facts say otherwise. Women everywhere around the world are being treated unfairly and it is a major issue. Only 20% of the population are actually aware of this, whereas the other 80% think the fight for equality is over.
Now you probably want proof. Well first of all women everywhere in the world are only getting paid 77% of what a man earns for the same amount of work. A human right is being breached here “equal work for equal pay.” 50 % of the world's population's human rights are being breached and only 20 % are aware of it. But then this amount keeps decreasing all depending on their race, culture and where they come from. So for an African American woman, this amount would be 65% and in some countries up to 80% less for the same amount of work!!
Because a woman earns less money but lives longer a clear issue presents itself; the longer a woman is on earth the more money she will need in order to survive. So this makes a woman a lot more likely to live or die in poverty or both. The average superannuation for a woman after she has retired is 138,150 NZ dollars compared to 292,500 for men. That is 154,350 NZ dollars more than a woman. There is a need for justice, women and children are going into poverty and even dying of hunger because women all around the world are not getting paid what they deserve.
But every problem has a solution. Iceland is the first country to introduce a law that makes sure that women and men have equal pay. So it is possible but it is not happening in our country or anywhere else in the world. As well as that there are still six countries that haven't ratified the CEDAW ( The convention on the elimination of all discrimination against women)
Changes are not happening fast enough research states that the gender pay gap will be eliminated in 100 years!! Most of us will not be living when that happens. I do not want to live my life knowing that I'm getting paid only 77% of what a man would earn for the same amount of work and I know many others won't either. I hope that after reading this you are now aware that women and men are not yet equal. The fight for gender equality began by women fighting for the vote but that fight has not yet come to an end.
By Isla Gilby
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