Equal Pay For Equal Work Exists Nowhere

Americans are not alone in the fight to pay women equally for same work that men do.  I saw a video the other day that really brought this concept home.  The women of Iceland, who are paid about 20% less than men for the same work, decided to go on strike.  The women in the entire country (granted, it's a pretty small country)  left work in the afternoon, when they had worked 80% of their day.  They figured that since they were getting paid 20% less than men, they would work 20% less.  What a great way to show their value.

There is no country on earth where women are paid the same wages as men.  The best women have done so far is in New Zealand, where women earn 5.6% less than men.  Other countries that rank close to New Zealand include Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark.  On the other end of the spectrum, is South Korea, where women are paid 36.6% less than men.  Estonia, at 26.6%, Japan, at 26.6%, Israel, at 21.8%, and Netherlands, at 20.5% also do not fully value the work of women.  The U.S., at 17.9% is the 10th worst country in the world for women's wages.

How have we allowed this to go on for so long?  We are more than half the population, so can't we use the power of the ballot to change this?  For the life of me I cannot figure out how anyone would support a candidate at any level who did not believe women should be paid the same salary as men.  Are we less valued?  Yes, we are.  Women have the power to change that, just as we did with the right to vote.  Let's get to work.  Obama worked hard to get equal pay for equal work, but was fought every step of the way.  We need to keep working to achieve equality for all.