Justification

Like men, it is necessary for women to maintain equal rights. Although the solution proposed in this article may not solve the issue it will at least reduce it. The steps called forth in the solution asks for men and women to prioritize unequal pay, bring attention to the issue by shedding light over the matter, eliminate occupational segregation, and finally create policies to regulate unequal pay. In order to overcome unequal pay, advocators must attack the social structures that stereotypes women. Such as eliminating the mindset that women are only caretakers, and housewives.  Citizens may question why is it necessary to prioritize unequal pay. As I stated earlier, half of the United States' population is made up of women. That means that half of the citizens in the United States are being paid unfairly. This in return, affects many families throughout the country (e.g. poverty). So it is necessary to prioritize unequal pay.

After making unequal pay a priority, it is necessary to bring attention to the issue because of how much it affects families. Some women are not aware of how much money they are cheated out of. With the surfacing of the issue there will be more wide spread attention over this dilemma. Both the media and government will have to eventually address the situation. The media and government influences both social structures and social standards; therefore it is necessary to catch the attention of the government and media. Since the media and government influences social structures and standards, advocators must change the media's view on women as sexualized objects to people who are worth respect. With the government, it is necessary to attack occupational segregation in order to support women in higher positions. 

The idea of occupational segregation is what prevents the media and government from allowing women to achieve higher positions. For example, during Emma Watson's speech for the HeForShe campaign at the United Nation, hackers threatened to expose nudes of her as retaliation against her effort of gender equality. The media easily sexualized Watson. Now, because of occupational segregation, people view Watson not as a woman who is standing up for rights and equality, but as a woman who should stay as an actress and not deal with other matters. This is basically saying that she is not worthy of dealing with serious political/social matters. The media also sexualizes Watson's costar Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter.  According to the image below, Harry Potter fans says that it is weird to consider Radcliffe as a sex symbol because fans have seen him grow up through the Harry Potter film series. Radcliffe responds stating that: "The male population had no problem sexualizing Emma Watson immediately."

Fig. 1 Radcliffe on Sex Symbolism [2]

There is more respect given to Radcliffe because he is a man. If occupational segregation can be completely eliminated or reduced from both the government and media,  then women will be more respected; rather than be viewed as less significant when compared to men. With a change in social structures and the elimination or reduction of occupational segregation, women will be viewed as equal to men and then there would be no reason to compensate women less.

Finally, after prioritizing unequal pay, drawing attention to equal pay, and the change and elimination/reduction of social standards and occupational segregation. It is necessary to implement policies that will prevent employers from illegally compensating women for less. Employers are violating the Equal Pay Act of 1963; otherwise if employers did not then America would not be facing this issue. Advocators should call for tighter regulations from the government on equal pay. Allow audits to be done that analyze discrepancies between salaries. The reason for this step is to ensure solidarity. Women face discrimination today, and although it is not as direct as pre-1950's it is still evident through paychecks.