OPINION ARTICLE-- THE PAY GAP

     A topic that has been the center of discussions of people in the US recently is the pay gap between men and women. According to a study conducted in 2015, Full time female workers make 79 cents to every dollar a man makes. (66% on average of what men make) And it is also found that women earn less than men in virtually every occupation where there is sufficient earnings data for both genders. Women and men should be payed equally, because neither work harder than the other. If anything, women work harder. They hold 49% of jobs in the US, they are more likely to hold two or more jobs, and are less likely to be self employed.
     This is an issue all around the world, and has been for quite a while, but has just recently been brought to the attention of many Americans. The country with the worst pay gap in the world is Israel, a woman makes only 47% of what a man makes, not even half. The state with the worst pay gap in the United States is Louisiana, where women make 65 cents for every dollar a man makes. There is only one country in the world that on average, women make more that men, and that country is Denmark, where women make 2% more than men.
    "The U.S., for instance, narrowed its wage gap by one percentage point to 66% in one year "meaning that women earn about two-thirds of what men earn for similar work according to the perception of business leaders," WEF's economist Saadia Zahidi said. The U.S. also ranked 65th in wage equality among 142 countries in the report." This is according to a CNN article about the pay gap in the US. 

     Women are hard working individuals, and deserve equal pay as men, because women have always been there to help out men and fix their mistakes, and women were also there to work and innovate when men were not. A great example of this was during world war two, when women had to the on many of the jobs and roles of men. They were happy to take on these roles, and yet, they got payed almost nothing for doing them. Yes, it was hard times, but even then, women were not recognized for their hard work. Women have always somehow had less rights than men, yet this has to be the worst. Because the amount of money a person makes, regardless of gender, effects everything in their life, and their standard of living. And statistically, there are more single moms than single dads, making this even worse for those women, because they have to have multiple jobs to be able to support themselves and their children, making it hard for them to spend time with their kids.

     There is one job though, where women and men are guaranteed equal pay. And that is the president of the United States of America. So, not really an option for most women. There would be benefits to men and women having equal pay, for two huge reasons. The first, being that there is a woman in everyone's life, whether it is their sister, mother, cousin, etc. so any struggles that effect those women, also effect them. Secondly, there is no benefit what so ever, for this pay gap. Women deserve full pay, just as much as men do, if not more, and I think that is an issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.