Last year during Spring Break I was walking through Grant Park in New York when a group filming a documentary stopped me. I was asked if I could share my thoughts on the gender wage gap. The specifics of the interview escape me, but I remember one thing I said.
“Things like a wage gap between men and women shouldn’t exist in the twenty-first century.”
I still believe this. I will never stop believing this.
I’m thinking of this now because the other night at dinner I was talking with my host mom if similar issues existed in Denmark, one of the most progressive countries in the world. This is a society where men are expected to take paternity leave and contribute to caring for newborns, where women don’t expect men to buy them drinks at the bar, and where “gentleman courtesies” would be seen as strange or demeaning. In short, Denmark is proud of its gender equality.
And yet, while talking to my host mom, she admitted that the wage gap is still a prominent issue for women in Denmark too. She also told me that hiring discrimination is a problem, since employers don’t want to hire women who have or will soon start families, as up to a year long maternity leave is typical. I was honestly shocked to hear this, thinking that such a progressive country had surely moved past issues of another century. Yet, even here, in one of the most forward-thinking corners of the world, women’s work is undervalued compared to their male counterparts.
I am of the belief that women are the cornerstones of their communities, and employers and legislators should be advocating for closing the gap that should no longer exist. Equal pay for equal work is one of the most logical arguments out there, and yet it seems to still fall on deaf ears of those who can affect change.
In honor of women’s history month, I want to highlight that we live in a time when discussions about equal pay should be a thing of the past. And if they are still able to continue in places like Denmark, then we all still have some work to do.