By Jessie Shirrick and Dani Ricker Posted December 17, 2014
Women have had the right to vote for 95 years, the Equal Pay Act has ensured the equal pay of men and women for 51 years, and with the help of Title IX of the US Educational Amendments, women haven’t faced discrimination in education since 1972. So the battle of the sexes has long been settled right? Wrong. Contrary to popular belief, there is not a single state in America in which women make the same salary as men for doing the same work. Even more shocking, 60% of sexual assaults on women go unreported- just to name a couple of giant issues modern American women are currently facing even if they don’t know it. So what are the reasons behind these injustices?
A well-known document that goes by the name Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” The purpose of said document, signed by President Nixon on June 23, 1972, was to ensure women equal opportunity in education. Prior to the signing of Title IX widely known universities did not accept women into their programs; law and medical schools used a quota system to limit the enrollment of females. Since then, data shows that more women than men graduate high school and go on to attend college.
Although Title IX was created with the purpose of leveling the playing field in education, it has been widely used as an argument to allow women to participate in high school and college athletics. Sports receive federal funding, under Title IX this qualifies women to be legally allowed to participate. The document may not specifically state anything about sports, but being that the sports are regulated by the school and can even be used to receive high school and college credits, schools are required to allow women to be involved in these sports. High schools and many universities receive federal funding, meaning their athletic programs fall under the scrutiny of the law, regardless of the public opinion on women’s involvement with sports.
Too often the argument “women care less about sports,” is used to deter such scrutiny. We are left wondering, when was the last time you went to a volleyball game and had to search for a place to sit? Conversely, how many times have you left for a football game early to make sure you got a good seat or parking spot? Shelby Ruff, a Chemistry teacher at Lowry and former high school athlete, agreed with this scenario.
“I don’t know if it’s a gender thing or a sport thing but far more people show up to football games than volleyball games. I would agree that it seems people are more interested in watching the men’s sports just from the attitudes you hear about the WNBA and other professional women’s sports,” said Ruff.
Women face the challenge of being forced to prove they are worth being watched. The fact of the matter is, that men’s sports have a wider audience. Athletes are performers. It is so much easier to get pumped to go out and play (or perform) in front of a packed house than it is to play in an empty gym. Women’s sports are all too commonly not only ignored but mocked. How many basketball fans could tell me which male college team won March Madness last year? How many could tell me which female team won? The WNBA is all too often referred to as “a joke”. According to an ESPN report, 34% of women say that sports are a major part of who they are, as compared to 61% of boys who say the same. So the real question is, do women care less about sports because of lack of interest, or because the thought of making a career out of the sport is mocked instead of praised? While all of this is unsettling, there are still far worse horrors women are faced with.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men report experiencing rape sometime in their life. 42% of these reported rape victims claimed the incident happened before they were 18. This is probably the age when women are at the highest risk of an assault. However, the threat doesn’t magically disappear on your 18th birthday. If you’re a female and plan on going to college and joining a sorority your chances of being assaulted slightly increase. College Greek life has long been infamous for its heavy partying and hazing, which makes members more susceptible to being subjected to harmful sexual activity.
Rape is obviously unacceptable and all convicted rapists are brought to justice, right? Not necessarily. According to the Student Press Law Center, most of these assaults go unreported because the victims often don’t know what “counts” as rape. Even if they do, they may feel too uncomfortable and embarrassed to talk to anybody about what they experienced. Unfortunately, even the victims who do speak up never see the justice they deserve. Conflicts between students are usually brought to a mock trial consisting of untrained peers and faculty, and the attacker is usually let off with an essay, probation, or a suspension- virtually a slap on the wrist for a serious crime. Of course, this isn’t protocol at every institution, but it’s very typical.
As women graduate from college and head out into the real world, they begin to encounter new and exciting forms of injustice. The best place for women to work is Washington D.C. but even women there only make 91% of what men make. In most states, women will only earn 78% of what their male counterparts make. The question is, why? When you factor in age, education, and family responsibilities of men and women working the same positions, there is still an unexplained 7% pay gap, and it only gets worse for women of color. While Asian women experience the least pay discrimination (90% of white men’s earnings), Latina and Hispanic women are set apart from a caucasian man’s salary with a whopping 54% pay difference. While this statistic seems fairly shocking one Latina student that commented on this, Irene Diaz, said “This is new information, but it’s not surprising.”
According to research done by Dr. Claudia Goldin of Harvard University, the pay gap widens the higher the job pays- huge differences in salaries in medical, financial, and legal professions. All this despite the Equal Pay Act of 1963 which requires, among other things, employers to pay workers of the same job title the exact same salary.
So how is this Grand Canyon-sized pay gap even possible? Dr. Goldin suggests that there is something going on within the workplace. She has developed a hypothesis that states employers are more likely to disproportionately reward employees who work longer hours. These employees are usually men, while women will typically ask for more time off. The reason for this dates back to the age-old adage that women are the housekeepers while men are the providers. So while men are working overtime to make more money for their families, women are heading home early to pick the kids up from school. So while we like to think that we’ve made huge advances in the number of working moms and stay-at-home dads, the truth is that women are now upholding the responsibilities of both work and home. Of course, nobody is forcing women to do this but themselves. History has made women believe that they must perform the duties of the traditional housewife but they must also be the revolutionary feminist and go out into the workforce.
So where does this idea stem from? Let’s take it back to the classroom. According to a study conducted by the National Association for Research in Science Training, females get a relatively poorer education than boys, even when they are in the same classroom. The study’s results found that teachers call on boys more than girls, ask boys more difficult questions, give boys lengthier feedback, and are more patient with boys than girls. Girls are generally ignored by teachers, even if the teachers don’t realize they are doing it. It was decided to ask the teachers of Lowry what they thought of this interesting study.
Of the three teachers that were spoken to, none of them had heard of this study and all of them denied deliberately giving more attention to their male students than their female students, but one teacher admitted to a common mistake made by teachers.
“Something you have to be really careful of is calling on a student who probably knows the answer. You just want to call on them to keep the lesson moving and you don’t want to embarrass someone who might not know the answer. That doesn’t add up though, because a lot of my best students are females,” said Math teacher Brant Corak.
Another teacher who was interviewed teaches in a rather unconventional setting, but his response was similar.
“In the weight room I don’t see anybody as males or females, I see them as athletes. I can definitely say that I interact with boys more just because we have more in common and guy-to-guy contact is a lot more condoned than guy-to-girl contact,” said Weights teacher Taua Cabatbat.
Cabatbat definitely makes a valid point, one that most teachers would agree with. A friendly relationship between a teacher and a student can be seen as inappropriate. Especially so with male-teacher to female-student relationships because that is the dynamic most commonly seen in an inappropriate teacher-student relationship, but that doesn’t mean boys can’t be victims of sexual harassment by teachers. People just seem to forget this possibility.
Ten students were also interviewed concerning their opinions on equality and discrimination in the classroom.
Of those ten students who answered questions, eight of them expressed that they felt ignored in class because of their gender. Whether it be because they’re a girl in a typically male-dominant class, or because a boy feels out-numbered and under-appreciated in any standard class, they felt discriminated against at some point. One student said she thought that teachers single out either male or female students because they want to compare male intelligence to female intelligence. Another said teachers probably figure girls are too shy to speak up in class, one just said because “it happens”. None of the students could offer a legitimate way to fix the problem though.
Perhaps the only problem is that of being uninformed. As proof of this, some male students were asked about their opinions on feminism. One of the interviewees replied, “aren’t feminists the ones that just hate females?” One interviewee stated that he agreed with the principles of feminism and said he was indeed a feminist. The other boys were somewhat hesitant to be so bold as to give themselves that title, so they were prompted to really give it some thought, and think of an instance when they witnessed discrimination against females firsthand.
“Females do get in trouble more than boys for school dress code, but I can’t say I’ve ever witnessed a teacher treating their male students better than boys, although I’m sure it happens. I guess I just never payed attention,” said senior Jay Oakley.
Maybe that’s the problem, this inequality is so present in today’s society that people have become desensitized to it. If people would just open their eyes and perhaps do something to change it, the problem could be eliminated.
