I’m going to make an unpopular opinion here. Stay with me, please and hear me out.
So…Yesterday was Equal Pay Day.
It is an initiative and movement created to call attention to the fact that women in America earn 79 percent of what men earn. There is a major campaign to get employers to cease discriminating against women in terms of pay and to have legislators and lawmakers create new rules and regulations to make it harder for employers to commit gender pay discrimination.
I dig it and agree, and agree that a woman and man who do the same work and the same level of work and who have the same or similar experience and work history should be given the same pay. Employers should not be allowed to pay the man more, in that situation, because the boss considers men the “breadwinner” of a family or some other sexist reason.
However, I do think valid business reasons exist when it would be okay to pay a man more than a woman who has the same job or position.
I also do not think the government should force businesses to make decisions that is against the best interest for their company without taking into consideration subjective reasons for inequity in pay— and believe me as a private employer, there are Plenty of reasons.
People who have only been employees, worked for the government or nonprofits and have never owned a business may not get it or comprehend any situation where pay inequity is appropriate or even crucial for the health of a business.
I recognize that there is an anti-rich and anti-wealthy and anti-capitalism and anti- free market economy sentiment in a lot of people in America and all over the world.
However, the fact is, you don’t have to be a rich business to oppose government intervention in pay decisions.
Small and micro small business owners are not all millionaires and many are struggling to grow and sustain their businesses. There are already existing federal and state laws that protect women from pay discrimination and there is no need for the government to come in and create new laws that will punish employers for doing what’s best for their business and making decisions on pay based on factors that are specific to the business.
Finally, the entire 79 cents to a dollar stat is skewed for several reasons.
Before you chew me out, here me out here in this latest voice note (also check out the infographic below which supports some of the things I say in this note)
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
