Emmy Rossum Demands Equal Pay — Yes, We're STILL Asking For This
The future is FEMALE.
WeHeartIt Imagine being told that you don’t need to get a job; that you could just marry rich, thanks to your good looks. Or being more qualified for a job than someone else, but being passed over for it because your counterpart was male.
Imagine being told not to worry about one of your duties at work because your boss thought you were too weak to lift boxes. Or being warned before even entering the workforce that it was going to be harder for you to find a job simply because of your gender.
Now imagine having to hear these things every day. Sounds pretty unfair, doesn’t it? But for women everywhere, this is just another day in the life of being female.
Instead of being treated as equals, we are treated as second-class citizens; people who somehow deserve less respect, acknowledgment, and money than our male peers.
Forget being treated as equals for a second. Women today just want to make it home without being catcalled, harassed, or assaulted… and even then that’s a big “what if?” So don’t tell me I’m overreacting for carrying a pocketknife when it could be the thing that helps me make it home safe.
But being degraded for our gender doesn’t ever seem like enough for some people.
For transgender women and women of color, basic human rights have a completely different meaning than they do for white women. And equal pay? Twice as unachievable for them.
And for what? Power? Fear? The satisfaction of tearing down someone who isn’t exactly like you?
That’s why it is imperative that when we demand equality, we need that to include every woman.
Fortunately for us, the centuries we’ve spent being stepped all over by men are coming to an end.
When you’re forced to put up with so much shit, you tend to grow a thick skin and learn how to stand up for yourself. And that is exactly what us women everywhere are doing as we enter the new year.
Recently, Emmy Rossum demanded equal pay for her role on Showtime’s Shameless, threatening to leave for good if she wasn’t given the respect she deserved.
Not only did she run the risk of postponing the newest season of the show from happening, but she stood up for herself without apology, showing women that you don’t EVER have to be sorry for sticking up for what’s right — making her a TOTAL bad-ass in my book.
Even before that, Patricia Arquette spoke about equal pay for women during her Academy Awards speech that ultimately led to her losing roles and dealing with backlash from people who didn’t agree.
Serena Williams said she never wanted to have to explain to her daughter that the reason her brother was going to make more money than she would is because of her gender.
And even though it breaks my heart to hear all the negative things people have to say about women, if only because we ask for the same things men do, it renews my belief that the future IS female — because I’m watching it happen with my own eyes.
Not once have we backed down or given up — nor will we — because you know as well as I do that this will not get easier any time soon.
So let 2017 be your year to work on yourself, to stop taking shit from people who don’t believe in you, to show others that being a woman has everything to do with your success.
Don’t hide the biggest part of yourself because you’re afraid of what others will say, because trust me, someone will always have something to say.
Instead, keep your chin up like I do and press forward, all the while being grateful that you’re a woman; a woman who has the WHOLE world at her fingertips and an entire future of opportunity ahead of her.