Ain't Equal

Back in 1989, Laurie Anderson had these lyrics in her song "Beautiful Red Dress":

"I just want to say something. 

You know, for every dollar a man makes a woman makes 63 cents. 

Now, fifty years ago that was 62 cents. 

So, with that kind of luck, it'll be the year 3,888 before we make a buck."

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2023, women now make $0.82 for every dollar a man earns. 

I've said for a while now, that if one insists on having a 'gender reveal party', the expectant couple should open a wallet. If it has a one dollar bill, it's a boy.  If it has 73 cents (now I guess 82), it's a girl. I wonder how real that party gets after that showstopper. 

Even in the Ocean's movies (ewww), the women only had Ocean's 8.  Or 73% of Ocean's 11. They movie makers didn't even try to hide it. 

On the surface, it would seem that Anderson's calculations would be off a bit, but not by that much. Still - $0.24 increase in 23 years is kind of astonishing compared to that rate it had been increasing prior to 1990. 

But then you take this latest wage gap example:

I get it - it's sports, and the market drives what you get paid. But does it? By that much? 

Mind you, I don't follow college basketball that closely, let alone the drafts, but even Mary Ingalls could see that this is way lopsided. Even some of the least knowledgable sportsball folks has heard Caitlin Clark's name all season. She is a phenom in basketball. 

Notice, I did not say "women's basketball". 

Yes, I get that men's basketball is more established and brings in more money than the WNBA.  But for one player, does it bring in more than 163 times as much?  One player. Now add in the Currys, James and the lot. 

For those who know of the WNBA player Brittney Griner who was detained, tried and was in prison in Russia a year or two ago, she was met with comments like:  "you don't see Lebron James playing basketball in Russia". 

Because he can afford not to. WNBA players have to pick up other opportunities to actually make money. He brings home about $42M a year - NBA pay.  Not Nike, Tonal or Sprite endosements, and to whatever else he lends his name and likeness.

So, now let's go back to that wage gap to the two examples above. I'm not sure my iPhone calculator could show the disparity in pay, but it is no longer $0.82 to the dollar. More like a percentage of a penny? 

Just remember folks, every single Republican - including the females - voted against equal pay act. Oh - and the GOP congressmen who sponsored the bill even voted against it.  And this year, Republicans rejected a Democratic attempt to include equal pay in the Women's Bill of Rights. 

And isn't it just fucking sad that we have to make a separate bill of rights for a specific gender? 

May I have some GOP readers. If so, they don't really speak up here. But if they are, I'm all ears to hear why they think women don't deserve equal pay. 

I'll wait.  

Song by: Megan Thee Stallion