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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Vagina Tax
http://angryblackladychronicles.com/2013/03/08/the-vagina-tax/#more-83077Payday is rolling around. Im going to look at my paycheck, and review the state and federal withholdings. Ill grunt at my FICA and insurance costs. I wont actually see a tax for having a vagina, but it will be there. I feel quite certain my employer practices fair pay, but in way too many cases women are not paid the same as male coworkers for doing the same job. For owning the same responsibilities. For living up to the same expectations.
I suppose some may look at this as a penis bonus instead of a vagina tax. Tomato, tomahto. Today is International Womens Day, but before we go global I want to take a look at the United States. Women make seventy-seven cents on the mans dollar. Not necessarily job for job, but this shows that while the glass ceiling may have cracked it is still firmly in place. Womens rights are in the hands of politicians and courts, which is ridiculous in itself. Men dont have to worry about sudden legislature telling them how they can treat their bodies if they were victims of a crime. Men dont have to fear that they will have to pay more for certain medicines because a church down the road doesnt approve. If a man is mugged, he isnt judged for wearing a bright red shirt that clearly attracted the criminal.
If most men woke up in our world, they would take one look around and jump out a goddamn window.
The truly mind-boggling thing is that women arent a minority. We are the majority, by a few million. Yet we are consistently throughout history treated as inferior, weaker and less intelligent. Despite centuries of evidence to the contrary, the stereotype persists. Modern women rose to the challenge and proved their ability over and over without realizing it isnt a matter of proof, its a matter of perspective. We can run faster, jump higher and work harder and if were really good little girls we might get a chance to break even. Until the parameters change, we cant win.
Remember when I said I was going to get to the global perspective? Here it is: compared to the rest of the world, we have it relatively good here.
Happy International Womens Day. Maybe by the next one there will be better things to report.
babylonsister
(171,056 posts)Thanks, and she's right!
sheshe2
(83,736 posts)This just proves that we are made of stronger stuff, babylonsister! Men would take a swan dive if they were treated as we are. We however stand up and fight!
Warpy
(111,243 posts)Women do two thirds of the world's work and are paid ten percent of the world's wages.
That is the vagina tax.
Any woman who isn't angry about this is asleep or crazy.
http://www.womankind.org.uk/about/why-women/statistics/
talkingmime
(2,173 posts)sheshe2
(83,736 posts)From your link.
Thanks for that link, Warpy!
ismnotwasm
(41,975 posts)Half the worlds population. Half.
K&R
Skittles
(153,147 posts)and we are over half the population
cliffordu
(30,994 posts)Word.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)The US is certainly lagging in that area.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)More than half. Men die sooner.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)and are conditioned to think of themselves and other women as less than.
There's a reason the patriarchy is so successful at persisting despite decades of education.
CrispyQ
(36,457 posts)God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
In Sunday school we were taught that God is neither male or female. During Confirmation, (I was about 12 or 13), I asked our pastor, "If God has no gender, then why do we refer to God as father & son? Why not parent & child? Why isn't there a special pronoun for God, instead of using he/him? Why is there no woman in the trinity?" The class laughed, even the girls, although not as heartily. The boys could hardly stop laughing as the pastor answered that "there are lots of women in the stories of the Bible." It was the second time a pastor side stepped my serious question & it was when I first started to question it all.
I wonder if any of the other kids ever gave it a second thought?
on edit: I single out Christianity, because it was what I was raised with.
surrealAmerican
(11,360 posts)Taxes are how we pay for common expenses; they are not a punishment. The word she was looking for was "fine".
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Awsome!
niyad
(113,257 posts)found her myself recently. Awesome!
Thanks and to you!
she
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)niyad
(113,257 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)... Reasons for both the phenomena in your post. Most of the 23% is attributable to this alone.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t04.htm
On average, men work 8 hours per day, Women work 7.2.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)in exchange for working an hour less per day *and* having 5 extra years of life expectancy.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)You do know you are fully capable of getting a lower paying job with fewer hours, right?
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Best choice I ever made, I fully understand why women tend to choose it.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Nobody ever lay on their deathbed wishing that they had more money and had spent less time with their family and friends.
Cha
(297,137 posts)mission to keep women down, from attaining their greatest potential.
As evidenced incredibly so by today's draconian gop..with the help of hapless women like michelle bachmann.
Thank Goodness for the Obama Admin where we've passed the Violence Against Women Act of 2013. That's a Start.
thanks she for ABL's International Women's Day commentary.
Kath1
(4,309 posts)I think the re-election of Obama is a very positive step toward equality, as evidenced by the passing of the Violence Against Women Act. Still, sadly, we have a long way to go.
dogknob
(2,431 posts)Totally solid OP! I gotta chuckle at some of the comments, though. A left-leaning website with posts talking up Margaret Thatcher!