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Angelina Ng
Dr. DiSarro
ENG 101-05
24 April 2014
Different, but the same
Maya Angelo once said, How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes
and she-roes! We live in a world where all men are created equal. Women have rights. They
deserve to be treated fairly and justly. Men and women were not always treated equally. Women
used to be thought of as stay- at- home moms who cooked, cleaned, and took care of the family.
They were not thought to be capable to do the heavy lifting. On August 26, 1920, women made a
breakthrough and were allowed to vote. People who vote are part of the community and are
considered to be citizens of the country. Though women were already citizens, this one act
helped to solidify that fact and also equalize everyone. Women should have the same
opportunities as men do. It is unfair if women are given less because of their gender. It not only
affects them, but their families as well. To be thought of as less based on something that we
cannot control is unjust and unfair. We are all human and should be treated that way. This paper
intends to argue the fact that women deserve to be paid the same amount as men do in the same
occupation.
In the year 2012, female full-time workers made only 77 cents for every dollar earned
by men, a gender wage gap of 23 percent (Pay equity and discrimination para 1). Women
earn less money compared to men even though they work the same job. They make less money
simply because of their gender. One interesting fact is that women make less money than men in
all racial groups (Pay equity and discrimination para 5). Discrimination between different
ethnic groups is still a problem in todays society. Though slavery has been abolished for many
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years, there are still remnants of discrimination in this world. Even within each of those groups,
women are still considered less of than men in the work field. The problem that arises is that
families become affected by this as well. It is not just women who are affected. Because their
wages are lower due to gender discrimination, the family income is lowered as a result. A
common case is that single moms are the only source of income for their families. Another case
would be that the husband has a fairly average job while the wife has a below average job in
terms of salary because of her gender. Salaries become a domino effect.
Women should have equal pay compared to that of men. Though they are different in
gender, they are absolutely capable of performing up to and even higher than the standards. They
are equally capable of accomplishing the required tasks as men can. People in this world fail to
see this. They think that women do not have the ability to do certain jobs as good as men.
Claims that female are the naturally inferior sex can be traced back to the beginnings of the
written word. For millennia, learned men purported to find evidence of women's inferiority in
their distinctive physical traits, which, they argued, must be the cause of their inferior behaviors
and temperament (Housh p.122). Women were thought of as inferior and their behaviors were
not tolerated. Back then women were not thought of as equal. But in fact, they do have the ability
to rise above. For example, here at Endicott College the Dean of education is Sara Quay. She is
an accomplished woman who is intelligent and fits the qualifications for being an established
dean. She is also the director of the Endicott honors program. She has also written two childrens
books. Dean Quay received her Ph.D. at Brandeis University. Though being female, she has
become extremely successful and has exceeded the expectations that society has labeled women.
Brains of women and men are different; however, they both have their strengths and
weaknesses. Men are not superior to women in this perspective because they have weaknesses
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too. Though men are better at learning and performing single tasks, women are better at
multitasking, working in groups, and problem-solving (Paddock Para 2). Generally, both genders
lack one of these skills. But what one has, the other one usually needs. The brain of a man and
the brain of a woman actually complement each other very well. Our brain consists of two
hemispheres. Men have more connectivity in each of their hemispheres while women have more
connectivity between their two hemispheres (Paddock para. 7).
Women have civil and human rights. Women have the right to be treated equal. In the
Universal Declaration of Rights, it says in article seven that all are equal before the law and
are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal
protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any
incitement to such discrimination (Universal Declaration of Rights para. 15). By law,
women are promised equality. They have the right to make the same amount of money as men
do in the same occupation. If men get paid a certain amount for working hard then women
should get the same as them. The law also states that everyone, without any discrimination,
has the right to equal pay for equal work (para. 42). The law clearly states that if two people
are working the same job, they should be paid the same amount of money no matter the
differences in ethnicity, age or, gender. The disparity between the salaries of genders violates
the law and does not allow women to have their full rights. The difference between the percent
that women are hired compared to men is drastic as well. Through surveys and examinations,
it is clear to see that this problem is apparent in our world. In the American Association of
University Professors (AAUP) 2005 national survey of full-time faculty members,
approximately 47 percent of women had tenure while 70 percent of men did, proportions that
have remained constant for more than two decades (Binder p.109). Women are also hired less
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than men because of the same reasons that they are paid less. The world believes that men can
get a job done better than women can.
Many people in the world would not agree with the statement made in this paper. People
believe that it is okay that women make less money than men. Men should be paid more than
women because they are thought to be superior and higher up in society. They are stronger and
can work longer and harder shifts. Some also believe that men are smarter than women and that
they can be more successful based on their gender.
Women can do work with the same success as men. There is not an efficient way to
actually prove that men are smarter than women. Actually, women have a higher rate of getting
college degrees. It was found that college-educated women earn 5 percent less the first year out
of school than their male peers (Peters para.6). Even though both genders went to the same
school and both graduated from college, male students still benefited in the work field more than
women. Though men are thought of as superior to women, everyone should be treated equally no
matter the beliefs. It is no longer the old days where men made the money for the family and the
women stayed home to take care of the children, cook, and clean. Women have become
independent and able to provide for their family in other ways. Though they have become
stronger, the opportunities for jobs are not as high for them as it is for men. Women are actually
more likely to work in a low wage job, pink-collar job such as teaching, childcare, nursing,
cleaning, and waitressing (Peters para. 7). Many of these jobs have lower salaries than the jobs
that men are dominating. If men take up so many job positions, then women are left with these
low wage jobs. Though there are times when these jobs are a choice, women are still not given
the opportunities to go out and work with the guys. Not having these opportunities to make a
good pay can affect women in the long term. Since they are not paid well during their first job,
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the next jobs following will most likely not have a good salary as well. Many times future jobs
will reference back to old jobs to determine the amount of money they will give to their
employees. If women come out of college with a lower salary job, it will be harder for them to
raise it up.
Women deserve to be paid the same amount as men do in the same occupation. Gender
should not be a deciding factor in the amount of money people make. It is not fair to base
anything that is uncontrollable. The gender that people are cannot be changed. It was not chosen
by the person. This is one reason why it is unfair to judge the salary by the gender. It should not
make a huge difference. It does not even give women the chance to prove themselves. This
society has come to believe that men are more logical and that women are more emotional. Men
are thought of as one way and women are thought of as another way. They are wrongly grouped
and criticized based on their gender. However as said by Dr. DiSarro, Everyone is an
individual. Women are also very capable of performing high level work in their jobs. They can
be as or even more effective than men are at the same job. What should matter are the things
that can be changed and worked on. A person should be paid and judged on their performance
and how much work they can accomplish. Hard work and dedication pays off. A person should
be rewarded by their constant dedication to their job and what they do. It should be the hard
workers who get paid the most, the ones that take their job seriously. Would it really be fair if a
person was paid more than a better employee just because of their gender? Every person has
rights. Equality is what this world needs to strive for. Though people are different in many ways,
they should be treated the same because they are all the same.


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Work Cited

Binder, Melissa, Kate Krause, Janie Chermak, Jennifer Thacher, and Julia Gilroy. "Same Work,
Different Pay? Evidence from a US Public University." EBSCO. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
<http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=738e84a4-5c3a-4691-b0f8-
11432e547b23%40sessionmgr198&vid=6&hid=127>.
Glynn, Sarah J., and Audrey Powers. "The Top 10 Facts About the Wage Gap." Name. N.p., 16 Apr.
2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Housh, Kristen. "Different by Equal? Inequalities in the Workplace, the Nature-based Narrative, and the
Title VII Prohibition on the Masculinization of the Ideal Worker." EBSCO. N.p., n.d. Web. 10
Apr. 2014. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=738e84a4-5c3a-4691-
b0f8-11432e547b23%40sessionmgr198&vid=6&hid=127>.
Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
"Pay Equity & Discrimination." IWPR. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, Declaration of Human Rights, Human Rights
Declaration, Human Rights Charter, The Un and Human Rights." UN News Center. UN, n.d.
Web. 10 Apr. 2014.






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