In an article, Jessica Bennett, an author for the New York Times, wrote “How to Attack the Gender Wage Gap? Speak Up.” It identifies the importance of closing the gender pay gap in the United States. The gender pay gap is a huge issue that needs to be addressed. In the article Jessica makes numerous valid points. She is the director of the group called the WAGE project. Jessica says “her program teaches women how to negotiate better salaries.”

She makes numerous presentations to students and adults informing them of the severe gender wage gap. She holds up real dollar bills and then smaller pink play money. She then explains that her pink play money represents the amount that women will make relative to men. When Annie informed a roomful of undergraduates of the difference in pay, all of them were appalled and printed off flyers to educate others of this tremendous pay gap.

Women are discriminated immensely in the work force. Employers set lower pay rates in women’s jobs than men’s job that require the same education. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, but discrimination in the work force still occurs. There are some employers out there that will pay women less than men in the same job.

At Iowa State University you see many students employed on campus. However, you don’t know how much they are getting paid. For a college campus it would be highly illegal to pay a woman less because of sex or gender. Therefore, what you do see is women and men choosing different majors.

On campus, it is common that males chose majors such as business, engineering, technology and science courses such as pre-med. For females, it is common that they choose majors such as fashion, teaching, design and nutrition. If a male is seen in a fashion class, he is most likely to be judged. Everyone sets stereotypes on what is masculine and what is feminine. It is just known that some majors are for guys and some majors are for girls. It is not fair that if one pursues an occupation that is not in their gender stereotype, they are looked at as odd and abnormal. A woman might choose to pursue engineering to not be a part of the gender wage gap and one shouldn’t discourage her of doing so.

The wage gap has gone down since the 1920s, but it is still in effect. We need more people out there like Annie who will stand up for women and say, “this is not fair.” We shouldn’t be discouraged as college students to be afraid to take a course. A job is a job; our gender should not stop us from receiving equal opportunities. Anyone should be able to do anything they want, and still receive equal pay.