As members of a certain sorority, my roommate Sara Huneke '07 and I have been bombarded with blitzes this past week asking us to bake cookies for a variety of different causes. Our usual response to receiving blitzes with the word "bake" in the subject line is to delete them on the spot. Not that we aren't philanthropic, or don't support our sisters, but the truth is, neither of us has any baking ability; we don't like to bake; and we are known more for our infamous kitchen catastrophes -- such as starting a fire in an attempt to make a salad -- than for our knack for creating delectable desserts. Then last Thursday we received a blitz that we gave a second glance, "Pay Equity Day Baking." Equal pay? Who's not for that? Isn't there a law about that?
Upon reading the blitz, our intrigue turned to pure outrage. We were being asked to bake in order to combat supposed "sex discrimination." Really? Is this not ridiculous? Using a complete perpetuation of gender stereotypes to fight the inequality toward women? Can these people be serious?
Besides the fact that we highly doubt that any of our "sweet frat boy" friends probably ever receive house blitzes requesting them to bring in baked goods for philanthropic events -- yet they still manage to complete the necessary community service work the College requires of them -- the fact is, baking cookies in this case seems to send the opposite message to both the women and men of our student body.
Moreover, concerns regarding unequal pay are a serious issue if the inequality exists as it is often portrayed. The blitz states that women continue to earn only "seventy-seven cents to the full-time male dollar." This supposedly results in a 1.2 million dollar gap over the course of one's career "just because you are a woman." However, this is misleading. This statistic compares all men to all women and does not take into account level of education, years of work or type of work.
The Equal Opportunity Act of 1972 is, in fact, enforced. However, it has been the personal life and career choices of women, as opposed to what some have referred as a "patriarchal conspiracy," that leads to this "inequality."
Simply put, the choices women make concerning time worked and professional field affect their overall income. Women are confronted with possible domestic interruptions, such as maternity leave, while also tending to choose more personally rewarding careers as opposed to high-paying ones. Although these choices may be difficult or perceived as unfair, they are the reality.
As educated, ambitious women looking to enter the professional world, we think it is only counterproductive to see ourselves as victims of such professional prejudice. We are capable of making the same career decisions as our male counterparts on this campus. When this Pay Equity Day Bake Sale on April 25th attempts to sell cookies for $1 to males and $.77 to females, in order to emphasize the supposed wage gap, keep in mind that this oft-used ploy only breeds further resentment and accomplishes nothing in creating gender equality. Since when do two wrongs make a right?
Aren't there more productive things we can do to cultivate an attitude of equality in the workplace? For example, on campus, the Women in Science Program and Women in Business are great programs that encourage women to enter male-dominated fields. However at the end of the day, we are still being asked to put on our aprons and bake. Do we really think that we are going to be able to use baked goods to win over the white males determining our salaries? Instead of focusing on perfecting our cookie recipes, let's focus on arming women with the means to attain the same professional success as their male peers. That said, we will gladly eat any cookie from a fraternity bake sale. Because hey, that's equality.
