The constitution of the United States of America says that all men are created equal. What do you think? Are all men created equal? It’s a question that not even the Socratic method can answer. It has to be true, though, for it to be in the supreme law of the land, right? Well, it seems like the phrase “all men are created equal” may not be truly accurate.

Whatever the answer is to the question, mankind certainly has developed as unequal. In today’s world, there is inequality in all walks of life. It’s really difficult to point to something that’s 100% purely equal in the 21st century. From social inequality to economic inequality, the list goes on. One type of inequality that really shouldn’t exist is gender inequality.

There have been, and unfortunately still is, many ways that women are discriminated against. According to The Guardian, one out of three working women in UK say they feel disadvantaged in the workplace. Many women also say that men are offered better employment opportunities than women.

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), full-time female workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men in the year 2014. That’s a gender wage gap of about 21 percent! IWPR also says that it may take until the year 2059 for women to finally reach pay parity, or equal pay, as men, if the gender gap stays close to today’s levels. That’s absurd!

“Gender inequality is definitely a problem in our society but is not going to be solved if we just sit, complain, and do nothing,” says Whitman freshman Jaycee Cardoso. Gender inequality is unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated at all. We have to eliminate gender inequality.

Today’s gender wage gap is in high contrast with the gap in history. Women have had many achievements in their fight for equality. According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the gap has narrowed since the 1970s, mainly due to the rise in women’s education and workforce participation.

“Although gender inequality has greatly lessened overtime, women still face discrimination in pay and hiring,” says 9th grader Andrew Borges.

“While men still make more than women in certain cases, women are slowly but surely gaining more power and are taking charge,” says Whitman freshman and fellow Paw Print writer Rebecca LaManna.  This is all great news for women, but should not even be close to stellar news. The wage gap between men and women today is still too much!
Gender inequality is in no way non-existent. It is real. Our society today has come so far when compared to our past. There have been so many positive and negative changes in our world. One thing that we, as a society, have failed to do is see different groups of people like women as equal. Women deserve to earn the same amount of money for the same amount of hours as men do.