Women have rights, too

Women get paid 78 cents for every dollar paid to men. In a land where all are suppose to be equal, why is it that women still fall short?

Forty-five years ago, President John F. Kennedy enacted The Equal Pay Act because women were only getting paid 59 cents to the dollar (National Women’s Law Center). So we have moved up in the world, but we’re still not quite there

Lilly Ledbetter, Goodyear Tire and Rubber supervisor from Alabama, has helped women in the United States move a step closer to become equal to men, in wage compensation that is. Ledbetter realized towards the end of her career that here male counterparts, that held the same position, were getting paid more. She went on to sue Goodyear for pay discrimination, but lost in a 5-4 decision because she didn’t file her suit within 180 days of the date Goodyear first paid her less than her peers.

But on January 29, 2009, President Obama heard her cry for equality and responded by signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He said he did this so ‘we can uphold one of the nation’s first principles: That we’re all created equal and each deserves a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.” The new act would be more effective than the last because it includes the Paycheck Fairness Act. Instead of having to file within 180 days of a woman’s first paycheck, the Paycheck Fairness Act would allow a woman to sue their workplace up to six months after her most recent paycheck.

Some may think the wage gap is a petty matter. It’s only 22 cents less than a man’s salary. Only 22 cents? Have you ever sat down to do some math? According to the Center for American Progress, a woman with a bachelor’s degree or higher loses $713,000 over a 40-year period. To put it into greater perspective, that would be a 17 percent increase in additional money single mothers could take home if they were paid fairly. They wouldn’t have to base their lives around the monthly child support check anymore.

As we earnestly wait to see if the Senate will pass the act, I wonder if it will even matter. So yeah, we’ll receive equal compensation as the opposite sex, but the question is, will we be treated the same?

I can’t even begin to number the times I’ve heard sexist jokes directed towards women. ‘Do you know why God made women’s feet smaller than men? So they can stand closer to the stove.’ Or that women are only good for two things: cooking and, well, you know the other one.

That goes to show where women stand.

As I head into the real world, I’m beginning to wonder the respect I’ll receive in the male-dominated world of sports. I can talk the lingo and hold my own in a room of guys, but to others who don’t know the true me would generalize ‘oh, she’s a girl, she doesn’t know anything about sports.’

When I worked on set for the NFL Network during this year’s Super Bowl in Miami, the big story was about Dwight Freeney, the Indianapolis Colts defensive end, being hurt. Before the pre-game show on Super Bowl Sunday, two of the anchors were joking about Freeney’s injury being over talked. I though it was funny so I chuckled to myself, but one of the anchors heard me. He turned to his co-worker and said. “If she knows what we’re talking about then you know it’s bad.”

Goes to show that they looked at me as a “typical” girl who only knows athletes by the colors they wear or how good they look wearing those colors.

It’s not just in sports though. It abounds in every job arena.

Women aren’t taken seriously for a position as a Chief Financial Officer because it’s a man’s job to take care of the finances or in factories where men are paid more than women because their ‘man’ power is more useful.

When the Senate goes to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, it will be another advancement for women’s rights, but there are significant disparities that remain and I don’t know if any act will really help.

Super Bowl rewind

I’m finally back from the Super Bowl! Boy that was a long 10 days, but very rewarding at the same time. I felt like such a nerd working on set for the week. It was awesome to finally experience a live production first hand after learning all about it at school.

Anyways, back to the Super Bowl. I guess I’ll give you a little synopsis on my 10 days in Miami, boy is that a different land down there.

(To fill everyone in, I worked with NFL Network on their South Beach set of NFL Total Access.)

To make it fun, I will give a top 5 of the most ridiculous things that happened to me or I encountered while I was there.

1. Let’s start with driving. I almost went into multiple panic attacks from the way people drive down in South Florida. They cut you off where ever, when ever, even if there’s only two inches in front of you. Pedestrians think that your green light means it gives them the right to walk in front of your car. I think the best thing was that the large, city buses think they’re compact cars and can cut you off when they’re just putting the car in drive and you’re already going 50 mph. I’m just glad my car and I were able to get out of Miami in one piece.

2. Gotta love professional athletes. I had a particular run in with ex- Oakland Raider and Tampa Bay Bucs defensive end Warren Sapp. On the field he’s known for his cocky attitude and rude actions—well his manners aren’t much better off the field. Before meeting Warren Sapp, I had been working with a guy named Vic, who looks exactly like Sapp in face. So when I met Sapp on set for the first time (with Vic standing behind him) I wanted to tell him that he had a twin. So I said, “Warren, I found your double.” He responded, “Excuse me (leaning toward me since it was noisy on set)?” I repeated, “I found someone who looks just like you…” He cut me off and wouldn’t let me finish telling him that it was my friend Vic right behind him. Instead he angrily responded, “That is so disrespectful young lady. How dare you say that all black people look alike. That’s so wrong.” He storms away, but proceeds to keep mumbling to himself. I just stood there in shock. I could not believe that he just said that to me. It gets better. So then the audio guy turns to me and tells me what Sapp was mumbling under his breath. Sapp said that I resembled the hoe down the street. Classy.

3. To think it could actually get better after the Sapp story, but it does. So people hate Tiger Woods now because he was caught red handed for cheating on his wife…but that’s because he was caught. People would think differently of other well-known athletes if they were caught too. While in Miami, someone gave me their number prefacing that he would let me know of any parties going on Super Bowl week since I didn’t know anything that was going on and he insisted I go out while I was down there. He told me to call his number so he had my number and he’d just text me when something was going on. I’m so naïve in thinking most of the time. Later I received a text “you ready to get sexy later?” I totally freaked! I could not believe that a married man sent me that. I felt like I was in a Tiger Woods scandal, except I’m not the type of girl who gets around with guys, let alone married ones! This really cemented my notion that most professional athletes are sleezeballs.

4. On a lighter note, I thought it was so funny that I had to hunt up and down the streets of South Beach in search of Berry Skhol dip. Our executive producer loves it. Language was a barrier on my hunt because South Beach is it’s own country in itself and you’re in the minority speaking English. But it just goes to show you what you’ll do to make a good impression and try to secure a job out of college.

5. To end my list, I thought I’d show that most guys don’t think girls know anything about sports. On Super Bowl Sunday, I was filling the talent’s cups with water before the pre-game show started and two of the guy talent were joking about how Dwight Freeney’s injured ankle story had been over talked. They were making jokes saying they didn’t even know Freeney was injured and I chuckled to myself thinking it was funny. One of guys overheard me chuckle and said, “Well, you know it’s bad [that the story had been beat to death] when she knows what we’re talking about.” Yeah, he went there.

All in all, I had an awesome experience, met some great people and left with invaluable experience.

College or no college, that is the question

April and May are the most exciting times in a college senior’s life-- graduation. A time of jubilee that he or she has finally escaped the stresses of homework deadlines and all-nighters to study for exams. The real world has finally arrived.

But six months after graduation, Brittany Montgomery has yet to find a job. She didn’t move back with her parents because she wanted to be that adult in the real world, have her own apartment and show that independence she gained from college.

That’s about all she can show for her $120,000 degree from Southeastern University. She has resorted to a waitressing job for the time being to make ends meet until she gets a call back from one of the hundreds of jobs she has applied for.

The number six not only stands for the amount of post-graduation months, but also when the loan companies come on the prowl. Besides her electric bill, phone bill, rent, car insurance and other miscellaneous expenses that may arise, Brittany now adds her loan bills to the heavy burden she has to carry each day. And she’s not alone.

According to the Department of Education, 66 percent of all undergraduates have to take out student loans in order to attain that coveted college degree.

But is it even worth taking out those loans to have that diploma?

Right now, 10 percent of college graduates 24 years and younger (up from 2007-2008 school year according to the U.S Bureau and statistics) can’t find a job and are stressing about the six month mark.

I sure am. In fact, it’s been on my mind for the past several years. I’ve been busting my butt to gain real world experience through internships and getting involved in national organizations to network. I think I’m heading in the right direction, until I go on journalism or media job sites and each job I come across states I need to have “experience.”

Experience?! How do they define experience? To them, they want people who have been in the working field for some time now. So what do college graduates like me do to survive in this real world when we’re just exiting school?

Zach Bove, a current senior at Flagler College, started to question his sport management degree while working as a holiday runner for UPS.

“Why bother going into sport management when I could go to work at UPS and make $35 per hour,” said Bove.

My sentiments exactly. Why get $20,000 in debt when I could also go work at UPS and receive double the pay I’d get starting out in my specialized field of journalism. To put it into perspective, someone at UPS makes about $30 per hour starting out. That’s about $44,000, not including overtime and bonuses they receive during the holidays. They have full benefits and are guaranteed 40 hours per week.

Sounds like a great gig to me.

Going into journalism, I’ll start out with half the salary and have a job as stable as a house built on sand.

Hmmm…which would you choose?

But it all comes back to getting your foot in the door and having that job security to pay off those student loans. With the state of the economy, I pose this question: is our society reverting back to where experience trumps college degrees?

Right now I can’t put my finger on an equation that equals a job when I graduate in April. Anyone out there that can help?

For now, I’m trying to forget the six month mark and focus on these next three months to finish up my degree. Is it fair to say worthless degree? But when I graduate and don’t have a job, I too, could end up like Brittany Montgomery—having to resort back to the restaurant business with all other non grads, teenagers, high school drop outs and criminals.

Maybe homework and all-nighters aren’t so bad after all.