Why aim for equality if women deserve more?
When we talk about bridging the pay gap and paying women the same amount of money as men, we make men the standard for what women want and the goal we should strive to achieve, when that should not be the case.
According to a report by SCIKEY research, 6.56% of female professionals excelled in the workplace. This figure was double what their male counterparts could achieve, which was at a lowly 3.26%.
Despite a lot of analyses showing that a woman's performance in a controlled environment is higher than a man's, women STILL make 82 cents for every dollar earned by a man.
In 2021, gender is STILL one of the most important criteria used to judge or assume an individual’s performance in almost all professional fields. For example:
Women are assumed to work less than men with the perception of them keeping family as their priority instead of prioritizing their jobs, being weaker and emotionally unstable. However, according to a survey by the hive, women work 10% harder than men in work environments today.
2. Most people have a false notion that the Indian women's cricket team is incompetent in front of the men's team and are hence, paid less. However, according to an evaluation done using the Elo rating system, the women’s team had a rating of 2,396, which was 37 more points than the men’s team.
Now, demanding equal pay instead of pay based on skill can have two reasons:
Women do not believe that getting what they deserve is an option and hence, work for the best they can get - equal pay.
Even when they know they deserve more, they assume it's not a practical option worth fighting for. For example, there are multiple, underlying criteria like sponsorships and T.V. events that play a significant role in many sectors like sports. Hence, they go with the solution they think is the most feasible.
Honestly, they are not wrong. It is sad, but it’s the harsh truth.
However, I would still say that instead of aiming to achieve a system of equal pay, we should strive to make sure everyone gets what they rightly deserve.
The reason - By standing up for equal pay, one can bridge the pay gap, but in the long run this won’t work out. Instead of trying to figure out ways to bridge the pay gap, we need to find solutions with which it can get fixed with time, by itself. By fixed, I don't mean equal pay but something that works for everyone and is justified. Aiming to give people what they deserve will make them perform better to earn more and bring us closer to a fairer world.
In conclusion, instead of striving for equal pay across all genders (which is still something that will take a long time to completely achieve), we should fight for a world where money is given based on merit, not gender. And even if gender is considered, it should only be in cases where the job is gender-specific. The right time to fix our beliefs and goals is now. It’s up to us - are we going to let men be the standard for women? Or do we create a separate standard for all which is not just equal, but equitable?
