In response to Ashley Herzog's May 7 column: I would like to thank Ms. Ashley Herzog for her article concerning the gender pay gap as it provides an excellent opportunity to shed some light on this important matter. I am not angry at the disdain Ms. Herzog has for those who believe in equal pay for equal work, but rather recognize her ignorance concerning the subject ' as I doubt highly that Ms. Herzog has ever had experience with not being paid what she was worth. Or perhaps she is simply a societal member of privilege, blessed with enough monetary wealth to secure her own financial future without feeling it necessary to acknowledge inequalities that do not apply to her own situation. We all are guilty of this at sometime or another.
In my job I deal with reviewing tax documents on a daily basis and I can say absolutely and without a doubt that a gender pay gap exists. We should ask ourselves why Ms. Herzog and others seem to think that working is a choice for a woman but a necessity for a man. Womensmedia.com reports that 41 percent of working women head their own households ' they are single, divorced, separated or widowed ' and 28 percent have dependent children. Yet American culture still buys into the myth of the male breadwinner.
Ms. Herzog noted that women who wanted to make a difference should enroll in the College of Engineering. According to the National Association for Female Executives 2005 salary survey, the average salary for a male civil engineer is $81,798; a female civil engineer makes an average of $65,947. It's not that women are choosing jobs in fields that don't pay as much as others; it's that all jobs pay women less than men. The first step to finding a solution is to acknowledge there is a problem. That is what Equal Pay Day is about.
If gender wage and salary discrepancies continue, and should Ms. Herzog pursue a job after graduation within the field of journalism, she can look forward to making about eight percent less than her male colleagues.
Ms. Herzog wrote a lot about choice. Choose now to educate yourselves, go online and find out how each one of us can help end the gender pay gap.
Kassandra Kimball is a graduate student studying film.
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Letter to the Editor
