Melissa Huff

UWRT 1104

Professor. Muesing

02/09/2018

Equality

I believe in equality. This statement is short, yet it has so much meaning to me. I believe

men and women should have the same status. I believe that you deserve the same level of respect

regardless of race, sexual orientation and religious beliefs. Lastly, I believe that the basic

foundation of equality is a problem everywhere, especially in the United States. You would think

that my stance on this issue would be shared by everybody, but sadly that is not the case. The

different cultures, races and religions is a major reason the United States is considered a melting

pot. We’re all so diverse, which makes equality seem beyond our grasp.

One of the most unbelievable inequalities is the difference in incomes between men and

women for equal work. Its mind blowing to witness women getting paid less despite having

equal if not better qualifications. If women have to pay the same amount of money as a man to

receive a degree for the same exact job, they should be able to get equal pay as well. My father

informed me when I was younger that a large reason for why women get paid less is because

women are susceptible to getting pregnant. Companies know that if women decide to have

children while working for them, they will have to go on maternity leave meaning that the

company will lose money in the long run. This means women get penalized regardless if they

decide to have children of notl. I believe another reason for this gap in income equality is the

ever increasing amount of women in the workforce. Looking back to even before the mid 1900s,
women were seen as stay at home wives whose sole purpose was to cook and clean for their

husbands. Since the 1980’s, women have become more independent. When women started

working for companies that hired predominantly male employees, they were underestimated

leading to lower wages.

Another form of inequality that is very prevalent in the United States is lack of respect.

Growing up in the south, I’ve witnessed multiple accounts of racial profiling. Racism is very

common in the south, largely due to prejudice beliefs being taught throughout the generations.

They pass down their hatred to their children and the cycle continues. I’m strongly against both

of these things because under everyone’s skin, we’re all made the same. I was taught to believe

that everyone should be treated the same no matter a person’s background because at the end of

the day we’re all people. It honestly disgusts me when I witness a person labeling a group of

people in a negative way due to their skin color, culture, sexuality and/or religion. Because this is

the United States I feel as though everybody should be embraced for who they are instead of

hiding behind a label that society has gave them.

We should all work together to maintain the melting pot mentality set forth by our

ancestors. I feel like in a perfect world we could put aside all of our differences and learn to

accept one another for who we are. Once people grasp the beauty of embracing other cultures,

world will become more peaceful. When you look at the issues of today, a lot of them deal with

one group of people being mistreated by others. At the end of the day, if everyone learned the

value of equality, we could squash many of the major issues our society is facing today. That is

why I am a strong advocate for equality, not only in my community but across the world.