Age doesn’t matter…

Music to the ears of women all over the world, but, wait a minute. I am talking money.

Beyond the financial injustices in the workplace, a recent survey revealed the fact that the gender discrepancies start much younger. Girls are paid less allowance than boys and it is a proven fact that girls do more chores.

There is never parity when it comes to sex (in the workplace and in the bedroom). Gender discrimination is still alive and well in the 21st century.

I remember when I found out that the male directors at the record company I worked for were earning more than me and let me tell you, no one worked harder than I did. I made groups with virtually no airplay, famous. I was actually called into the President’s office at the onset of my tenure in the music biz and asked, point blank, if I had a cocaine problem. I cracked up…the reason for the inquest. I moved and worked so fast the executives were positive that I was using.

Anyway, I was blown away when I learned the cold, hard facts. My base salary did not increase after I confronted them, but I was compensated in other ways so that it all balanced out, but they just could not see fit to pay me the same salary.

The recent Junior Achievement survey indicated that 70% of boys say they get an allowance, compared to 59% of girls. A further indictment of parental bias…girls do 2 hours more housework each week than boys. Boys will be boys and apparently they spend twice as much time playing…wow, what a revelation!

Young girls suffer a wage gap even when they leave their home to babysit. The few boys who take on babysitting earn higher hourly rates.

Asking girls to do more chores without paying them teaches both genders that women are meant to do unpaid work. When they aree older, far more women end up doing more housework than men. Mothers spend almost double the time on unpaid work in the home than fathers do each week. The real kicker is that men manage to find three more hours of leisure time.

In this day and age, a record number of families rely on women’s wages as the main source of income yet women are paid less than men in nearly every job and at every educational level.

Republicans voted down the equal pay bill this month, citing the explanation of diverging professional preferences between men and women. The reason we have fallen short could be rooted in what we teach our children…men and women don’t need to be paid equally and that the extra burdens women take on at home are not worthwhile.

Changing that will mean that both mothers and fathers will have to think about whether they’re creating a junior gender pay gap at home.

Damn it, Eve must have really pissed off someone in the garden. Only women can get pregnant, they have to tolerate menstruation and then when that joy ends we are dealt the menopause card and to add insult to injury, we are considered less attractive than men when aging (hello, facelift)…we are deemed mature and interesting…men are distinguished and silver foxes.

We must be generously and equally compensated for all this suffering, impeccable multi-tasking and for being the more capable gender. And men, spot screwing off and share the heinous housework load.