In Defense of Equal Pay for Women — Including Women Lawyers

You know that I support equal pay for women.  I have written on it in this blog before, and I published a comprehensive article on it recently.  You also might have noticed that I don’t typically get into politics in my work, for a lot of good reasons, but I consider equal pay to be a very important policy decision.  So, here is an update on gender pay equality — an opinion that likely is held by more than just this one political operative.  Heed it as a warning.

In a letter criticizing a bill that addresses the pay gap in the workforce in Utah, a Republican operative, James Green, said that men have traditionally earned more than women and, citing “simple economics,” argued that things should stay that way.

Green’s comments were directed at Utah Senate Bill 210, which proposes changes to laws related to employee pay. The bill would commission a study on whether there’s a pay gap between male and female workers in the state and would require certain employers to adopt a uniform criteria to determine whether an employee should get a raise based on performance.  It also would create a pay index that establishes the average pay range for each occupation based on years of experience.

Mr. Green said in his letter to the editor, published last week in several Utah newspapers, that men make more than women because they’re “the primary breadwinners” of their families, and paying women equally would somehow ruin the makeup of a traditional family where “the Mother” remains at home raising children.

He continued, “If businesses are forced to pay women the same as male earnings, that means they will have to reduce the pay for the men they employ.  If that happens, then men will have an even more difficult time earning enough to support their families, which will mean more Mothers will be forced to leave the home (where they may prefer to be) to join the workforce to make up the difference.”

He concluded by saying that equal pay is “bad for families and thus for all of society,” calling it “a vicious cycle” that would create competition for jobs, “even men’s jobs.”

Yes, in 2017, those views are held.  Don’t let anyone tell you that you do not have to worry about things like equal pay and women controlling their own lives because it is the 21st Century.

Don’t become complacent.  Keep your radar up.  Take your place at the table to correct the wrongs that limit opportunities and choice.

The time to get active is NOW.

 

 

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