On Equal Pay Day - Thank you to the Women of Walmart

By Guest Blogger, Avalon Bellos, NWPC Intern

To be paid less is to be valued less. On April 12, 2011, women around the country honor “Equal Pay Day.” Women are still paid less than men for the same positions and with the same skills, and unfortunately there are a number of people that would argue this to be a fact of life. I was recently caught up in a discussion about employment for women, and their lesser pay, with a male supervisor of mine when he proclaimed, “Well, what about maternity leave? Women can’t expect to take a year off of work and be surprised that men on the job have been promoted.”  This statement, and its archaic semblance of logic not only left me confused, but also gave me a glimpse into the world of the 1950’s and a struggle that, in this post second-wave feminist era I thought to be left in the past. It enraged me to think that his statement might match the logic of a number of Americans, and that perhaps that is why the issue of fair pay between the genders has been pushed to the wayside time and time again...and then there was Betty Dukes.