Inequality in the Workforce

For this week’s blog post, I have decided to discuss and reflect on wage gaps and gender inequality in the United States workforce. After a recent lecture on this topic in my sociology class, I noticed how this very much relates as a topic that could revolve around our U.S. national government. Unequal pay between men and women is one of, if not the largest factor that influences gender inequality in the workplace. 

People who are hired for the same exact job, performing the same exact tasks should not be paid differently according to their gender. In my class sociology class, my teacher mentioned that the average woman earns 79 cents for every dollar a man makes. This would mean that women are getting paid on average, over 20% less than men are, based on these statistics. Although I am not currently employed in the workforce and am experiencing this inequality first hand, I am sure I speak for many women who are when I say that these overwhelming wage gaps also contribute to the confidence women hold in their jobs. As more and more women discover how large of an issue wage gaps are becoming, it would be very valid for them to wonder what value their employers hold them to.

I believe that women should continue to fight for what they want and that they should not be afraid to stand up to their bosses, coworkers, and even the general public about what they believe in. Companies should not pay people for what gender they are, but the job that they are doing and the skills that the old.

Gerrymandering Has to Stop

After reading my fellow classmate Elijah's blog post about gerrymandering, I have to say I couldn't agree more with their points as to why gerrymandering should not exist. Drawing district lines to include or exclude certain groups of people is extremely unfair and malicious. After watching the U.S. Senate election race just this past week, I got to truly see how gerrymandering can affect the way votes are split up and conducted.

Like we’ve seen in class, if redrawing district lines was done using an algorithm rather than doing it by hand, the split up of political parties in each voting district would be far more fair, resulting in the elimination of some of the incumbency advantages seen in elections. Politicians often talk about the necessary change that we need to see in America, but with unfair voting districts, how can we see change if the Republican party is almost always favored (speaking in terms of the state of Texas)? If we were to eliminate gerrymandering and create district boundaries with equal political party representation, we would get to see a true reflection of who turns out at the polls, and that each districts votes should matter the same.

As they mentioned the city of Austin, I agree that the unair split up of voting districts is extremely evident in our city. Austin is indeed majority Democratic, but with the way lines are drawn, Republicans tend to have the majority vote. Once again, if districts were drawn with equal representation of both parties, problems with voter discrepancy would be eliminated almost completely. We need this to happen in order to see the change we want to see in our country.

Let Dreamers Dream

Since Donald Trump’s election as U.S. President in 2016, there has been persistent discussion on his motive to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico to put a halt to illegal immigration. President Trump’s arrogant and exclamatory tweets have made his opinion on immigration clear in that he believes building a wall is essential for the progression of the country. I, along with many others, disagree. Politician and 2018 Texas U.S. Senate nominee Beto O’Rourke is opposed to the building of Trump’s border wall and has mentioned in multiple interviews and public speakings that 2018 has been a year for record safety and security in regards to our border with Mexico. While President Donald Trump is clearly not understanding of this, his efforts to build the wall maintain present. The concept of a wall quite literally separating two countries is preventing many from seeking and pursuing a better future not only as individuals, but for families as well. For the leader of our country to suggest an idea that is indirectly showing an act of racism and hate is incredibly malicious and inconsiderate. I am in complete disagreeance of Trump’s efforts to build a wall and believe that if he wants to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants, he should first consider that this is an utmost physical representation of the racial and cultural insults that he has portrayed since the announcement of his presidential running. To conclude, it should also be considered that economic activity in the United States has skyrocketed, and building a wall would stifle this growth and drain money that is needed to fund schools, create jobs, and so much more. A wall is not necessary and it never will be. The “American Dream” should continue to be an attainable goal for those who are coming to our country to work for it.

The Media is Fooling Us

On October 19th, 2018, Rob Savillo wrote an article about how mass media has been consistently ignoring and failing to speak about the topic of healthcare in 2018. Although health care has been and will always be considered a large issue (especially with midterm elections coming up), and with Republicans having made efforts to alter health care policies in a negative way, the topic still has hardly been touched on all year. Rob Savillo mentions how even some of the largest news broadcasts in the country have failed to address the issue, even though they have some of the largest audiences of any media sources in the genre. I feel as though this is a prime example of biases within mass media as a whole because as mentioned, the GOP-led attacks on the ACA are failing to be mentioned on channels like CBS, NBC, and ABC. This would clearly mean that these channels are avoiding publicity on these attacks by avoiding the discussion as a whole, simply because they know fewer people will watch their broadcasts if they showed their political views so clearly. The author also mentions in his article that the efforts to sabotage health care policy in 2018 have purely been done by the Republican party and the Trump administration. In conclusion, this article goes to show that biases within the media do exist. And as long as we continue to be listeners and consumers of this information, we can all be easily brainwashed into altering our political views based off of what someone else is telling us.

Critics of Kavanaugh

On October 4th, 2018, The New York Times Editorial Board wrote an article addressing the many ways that Brett Kavanaugh failed and is failing to withhold his nomination to the Supreme Court and why he should not be nominated. The Editorial Board is writing from the opinions of the board, its editor, and its publisher. The intended audience could potentially be toward people who are in support of Brett Kavanaugh, as it states many reasons and situations where he should not be elected to the Supreme Court, or it could be for an audience who is already against the nomination of Kavanaugh, as they would agree with majority of the statements within the article. As the article is written from opinions of those from the Editorial Board, “credibility” regarding the information within the article can be deemed true due to the fact that there are mostly facts stated throughout. However, The Editorial Board does throw in many statements that come from their own judgements of Kavanaugh. The author’s main argument is essentially that the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is very much testing the politicians and civic institutions of our country. Evidence and reasoning for this argument is stated throughout the article in many circumstances. To name a few… First, The Editorial Board mentions the concern that if Kavanaugh is willing to lie under oath about the situation regarding his sexual assault accusations, that he will most likely lie about bigger things as well. Second, Kavanaugh raised his voice in an angry manner during his hearing at Democratic senators and refused to answer the questions that they had for him regarding the incident with Christine Ford, the woman who he supposedly raped back in 1982 at a high school party. With many more reasons listed throughout the article, it is clear that Kavanaugh’s consistent dishonesty and failure to act according to law gives plenty of logical reasons to not support him in his nomination and his self defense regarding the situation with Christine Ford.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/opinion/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-vote.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

The Congressional Takeover

Midterm elections are in early November and approaching quickly, with news cycles repeatedly analyzing the chances of various outcomes. The general political thought has been that Democrats will regain control of the House of Representatives and Republicans will maintain a Senate majority. Midterms are getting lots of attention in Texas in particular, as Democrat Beto O’Rourke is giving Republican Ted Cruz a run for his money, according to polls. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-09-06/gop-bracing-for-democratic-surge-in-november-congressional-vote

This Bloomberg article highlights the tormenting effects a Democratic congressional takeover would have on Republicans. These include, but are not limited to, countless investigations of President Trump and no hope at translating any more conservative agenda into policy. The party of the president usually suffers in the midterm elections, but some analysts believe it could be as disastrous for Republicans now as it was for Democrats in 2010, when Republicans gained 63 seats in the House and 6 seats in the Senate. If blue candidates like O’Rourke can win in a red state like Texas and Democrats such as Claire McCaskill facing reelection in states Trump won can pull off victories, Democrats will have high odds in both chambers of Congress. The article further discusses how the GOP is looking bad in terms of fundraising, turnout, and polls, though it is worth noting how inaccurate 2016 presidential polls were. Additionally, the article points out a problem the Republicans have: despite passing massive tax cuts, they have not followed through on two of the president’s campaign promises — constructing a border wall and repealing Obamacare. It will be worth watching as to whether Republicans’ worst fear will be reality soon — losing a majority in both chambers — or whether this fear among right-wing voters will surge unexpected turnout in the same fashion that got President Trump into office.

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