Delicious cupcakes available at a low price? That seems like a great deal. However, there is a catch. The low price varies based on gender; seventy-seven cents for women and one dollar for men. That deal no longer seems fair or valid. When discussing the cupcake deal in relation to the salaries of women and men across the country, this inequality is true.
Members of the Feminist Collective plan to sell cupcakes in the L.P. Young Student Center at Keene State College from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on April 8. The cupcakes will be available to women for 77 cents and to men for a dollar in efforts to raise awareness for Equal Pay Day. Equal Pay Day is a holiday that is intended to illustrate the gender differences in wages across the nation.
Meghan Belies, KSC senior and president of the Feminist Collective on campus, explained the cause and expressed her excitement about the Equal Pay Day event.
“We are hoping to spread awareness about the inequality in wages through this Equal Pay Day cupcake event,” Belies said. “I really think this is such an important topic due to women getting paid less than a man for doing the exact same job.”
Allie Norman / Equinox Staff
The National Committee on Pay Equity, or the NCPE, states that Equal Pay Day was originated by the NCPE in 1996 “as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men and women’s wages.” This day is typically planned for a Tuesday to represent how far into the workweek women must work to earn what men earned the previous week, according to the NCPE website.
Members of the KSC Feminist Collective said they see this day as an opportunity to educate the campus on such issues.
KSC senior and member of the Feminist Collective, Kristen Hunyadi, said she believes inequality in wages is an issue where people need more education.
“I think people are aware of this issue, I’m just not sure if they care about it yet,” Hunyadi continued, “It’s a common statistic that women only make seventy-seven cents to men’s dollar, but we want people to want to actually do something about it.”
Hunyadi added, “We’re all going to college, so we’re all hoping to someday have careers. It’s just not fair that women would make less money or have less opportunities for the same job.”
Kelly Decerbo, a KSC junior who is anticipating early graduation in the winter of 2014, said she is nervous about what inequality in wages truly means in the world.
“I know how real this topic is and I know that it is something that is going to affect me or my fellow graduates,” Decerbo said. “The closer I get to the real world, the more I realize how true it is.”
The inequality is true of men and women across the country, which members of the feminist collectice noted. The group members have also expressed that any person could be confronted with this type of inequality. Patricia Pedroza, KSC Women’s and Gender Studies professor of ten years, said she has felt personally victimized by the wage gap.
“I encountered this issue personally, after I graduated from college. As a young woman going into the pharmaceutical industry, the salaries of my male peers were at least four times higher than the female chemists,” Pedroza said. However, an unequal salary was not the only type of inequality that Pedroza experienced.
“I also suffered twice from sexual harassment on that job. At the time, there were not any policies about that,” Pedroza said. The issue of unequal pay and, more broadly, issues relating to feminism and inequality are very close to Pedroza. “People claim women are equal, simply because we are human. We deserve the same opportunities, but there are still large gaps out there,” Pedroza said.
“I love the Feminist Collective’s idea of a cupcake event,” Decerbo said. “It’s important for people to learn about the discrimination that they may face after college. It’s hard to believe, but issues like this are so prevalent once we leave Keene State and enter a different type of society,” Decerbo concluded.
Belies said, through this Equal Pay Day cupcake event, people will become more aware of how important this issue is to everyone; not just women.
“Everyone should learn about these types of issues because they are issues in the world no matter your gender, class, race, or sexual orientation,” Belies said. She concluded, “Feminist issues fight for the equality of all people.”
Stephanie McCann can be contacted at smccann@keene-equinox.com
