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Sarah Nunez
Dr. Parker
English 113: Feminist Perspectives
7 October 2016
Feminism: An Issue of Equal Opportunities and Outcomes
When it comes to the topic of feminism, most of us will readily agree that women are
seen as lower class and are not given the same benefits that men have. Where this agreement
usually ends, however, is on the question of should women get equal pay as men. Although,
feminism is about women wanting what men have (hook 4), feminism to me is, women
should be paid as much as men for doing the same work. (Gay 12). My definition suggests that
women should be able to get the same outcome as men when putting in the same input in
situations. A woman receiving the same degree as men, to only get paid less than them is
astonishing because there is no difference between the tasks they do. Men always having an
opportunity for education and women barely received the same opportunity less than a decade
ago (Rich 3). I believe women and men should have the same opportunities and should get the
same outcome. In sum, feminism is, for me, women and men having the same opportunities, and
my definition suggests women should get the same outcome as men about in regards to the
workforce.
Women should not be getting paid less for the same degree and same work being put in
because that is unfair to work the same but get paid differently. I have worked with men before
and knowing that they earn more than me for the same work is disappointing because I have bills
to pay as well. When inequality happens, most people think it is okay because America has not
been equal for everyone, In 2015, female full-time workers made only 80 cents for every dollar

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earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent (About pay equity and discrimination). In
other words, women that work the same as men earn 80 cents for every dollar men earn. I believe
this is unfair because everyone majors in something they love and women getting paid less for
something they enjoy to do is very unfair. Women should not be getting paid less for the same
job men are working and getting paid more because women do the same job as men and work as
hard as them. Women should be able to put in the same work in and get the same outcome as
men.
People focus on women being different than men, which is wrong because we should
focus on equality. Many people would agree that women should not be seen as the lower class
and be getting paid less, Among these issues, masses of people agree with the idea of gender
equity in the workplace- equal pay for equal work (hook 2). Meaning women that work as hard
as men should be able to get the same pay. This makes women feel less powerful in job forces
when comparing themselves to men because women do not have equal opportunities as them.
Women should not be getting paid less especially when they worked so hard to receive
the same education as men. Women have been focusing on making changes for a while and it
began with education now its equal outcomes. According to Rich, ...it is only within the last
hundred years that higher education has grudgingly been opened up to women at all, even to
white, middle-class women(2) In other words, women were also seen as lower class in
education a couple of hundreds of years ago by not being able to receive the same education as
men. If the government can change the education system, the government can change the money
scale. Women are often put through a lot of judgement as a result causes inequality.
Women should be getting equal pay as men in the same work force because women work
the same as men. The point is to get work done and both genders work hard to get the work done.

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Women are always seen as less superior or underclass when in reality, women can work as hard
as men and even outperform them in some situations. The government should not be letting this
happen because America is all about equality but at the end of the day women are getting paid
less. Women should have the same opportunities and outcome as men.

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Works cited:
hooks bell, Feminist Politics, Where We Stand: Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate
Politics, South End Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000.1-6
"Pay Equity & Discrimination." IWPR. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2016.
<http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination>.
Rich, Adrienne. Claiming an Education. Douglass College. New Brunswick, New Jersey.
1977. Convocation speech.
Gay, Roxane. Bad Feminist: Essays. New York: Harper Collins, 2014. 12. Print.