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.