The wage gap between women and men is a tricky point of debate. From my own experience, people seem to have strong and differing opinions on the topic. However, many of these opposing views stem from the lack of transparency in our own personal encounters with unequal pay. While I can understand that a failure to personally see or notice the effects of something makes it hard to believe its existence, personal assessment of a situation should not be the basis of its reality.

I will argue the facts behind the wage gap, however, I will also question the legitimacy behind denying the wage gap in the first place. Whether you personally notice unequal pay or not, I would like to believe that most of us can stand behind the idea that men and women with equal competence should be paid equitably. Denying the existence unnecessarily prolongs a resolution.

It is proven that on average, women in the US make 80 cents to every man’s dollar, however, many people argue that it is due to the occupations women choose or the amount of hours they work compared to men. Contrarily, there is research proving that there is actually an even larger wage gap between men and women at jobs that require higher education and longer hours. Women in fields such as finance and medicine earn roughly 74 cents to every dollar their male counterpart makes. There is also evidence that men still earn more when entering a generally female dominated field. For example, on average, male preschool teachers make two dollars an hour more than women and male nurses make roughly five dollars an hour more. The gap is even larger when compared with women of color.

A common argument I have seen that attempts to combat these clear statistics is the idea that if women continue to think that the odds are stacked against them no matter what they do, then they will lose ambition and initiative, therefore raising the argument that we should ignore the wage gap. To this I would ask: in history, how many injustices have been resolved with denial and resignation? Staying silent and ignoring the economic injustices will in no way end the gap. To quote Martin Luther King, someone with quite a bit of experience on creating change, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

So, I find it concerning when I hear people denying the wage gap, not only because of the facts that prove its existence, but also because if we continue to deny its existence, we are inhibiting our ability to minimize the gap, a gap that even most of those who believe it doesn’t exist, morally believe that it shouldn’t exist. If we’re all on the same page when it comes to the topic of equality in the workforce, then denying unequal pay is an unnecessary roadblock in the way of our collective goal of equity.

Sam Miner can be reached at mine0034@stthomas.edu.