Monday, January 28, 2013

Michelle's Biography Choice

"A lot have changed, but in some ways it's still as it always have been, like I still get paid five-fifty an hour after all these years. And I feel sometimes if a white person had this job, that person would get paid more than me. Just because the color of their skin." (pg. 54)

Geneva Tisdale worked at Woolworth's for forty-two years and never got a raise from the five-fifty she began with. That shows me that she was a hardworking woman who was not worried about how much money she was making, but doing it because it was her life. I feel as though if I were to work at a job even just ten years without a raise I would be very disappointed and I would argue it. Geneva didn't worry about it, though. Obviously she does care, however, because she noted it in the interview, but she was above arguing about it. Instead she was only worrying about the rights of the blacks getting served, taking one step at a time.

Men have always been noted as superior to women throughout society, but especially superior to women of color. They used to hold better jobs, where they could get paid more, and even when women were allowed to hold the same jobs, men were still paid more than women. Because of The Equal Pay Act of 1963, women were granted the same pay as men.

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm






Although all women have been granted equal pay, the Census Bureau still shows that on average women, especially women of color, still make less than men. In this article I found it says that The Equal Pay Act has "narrowed the wage gap between men and women in our workforce" but there are still some things that need to be addressed.

http://www.naacp.org/action-alerts/entry/naacp-supports-equal-pay-for-equal-work

5 comments:

  1. I feel the same way about arguing for my wages. I would be very upset if I worked at the resturant for as long as she did and made under minimum wage.

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  2. Its the whole glass ceiling problem again, the sad thing is alto of people just give up and accept that it is there and don't try to do anything about it.

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  3. I feel the same as you if i didn't get a raise I would have a big problem with that but i don't think she could have done much because the people who made her work in the back still had the same mindset so i think she was protecting her job

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  4. I absolutely feel the same way. Tisdale clearly worked hard and loved her job yet she was never rewarded for it. I would never want to stay at a job that long if I was still making minimum wage. Equal pay and equal rights I think is still an issue. They did an article on America's Newsroom last month saying that men at still making higher wages than women.

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  5. I really liked your post, it's interesting about the wage gap and how it has decreased so much.

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