It's time for pay equity, now.
Level the playing field. Pay or compensation discrimination occurs when employees performing similar work do not receive similar pay. Pay discrimination also occurs when a difference in pay has an...
Level the playing field.
Pay or compensation discrimination occurs when employees performing similar work do not receive similar pay. Pay discrimination also occurs when a difference in pay has an unlawful basis such as race or gender. Several laws prohibit pay inequality, including the Equal Pay Act, which was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009.
The latter Act requires employers to redouble their efforts to ensure that their pay practices are non-discriminatory and to make certain that they keep the records needed to prove the fairness of pay decisions. And yet there's still a significant pay gap between cisgender white men and, well, everyone else.
Pay inequity exists in all jobs from elite sports to the corporate world to gaming.
Also increasing pay inequity within different levels of jobs in the workplace is increasing the gap overall, even as it closes elsewhere.
Cisgender women and transgender men often pay a penalty for their pregnancies. When working people become pregnant and give birth, they experience a permanent setback in their likelihood of working and a big but temporary drop in earnings.
This isn't just because of pay inequality within similar jobs at the same company—it's because of the inaccessibility for women, especially women of color, into jobs often held by white cisgender men. Much like the caste systems we've created as a society around gender and race, we've also created a hierarchy that dictates jobs held by white men as being those most valuable. It's all just a myth!
But thousands of people worldwide are fighting back.
The USWNT sued for pay equity. Women in corporate America are disclosing salary information to elevate pay for all. Some countries are trying to reimagine the gap by creating pay equity in the lowest paying domestic jobs. There's more work to do, but everyday activists are on the forefront of creating change.
We are sharing the voices of the gaming industry and beyond who are reinventing the rules through their skill and advocacy. Hear their stories and experiences, consider how this relates to your own life, and learn about ways in which you can take action.
"Men are so often paid and compensated on the potential that they show, not necessarily what they've done. And women are so often paid on what they've actually done—which normally I would say, we outperform what our contract was."
—Megan Rapinoe, re–inc Co-founder
"For women to rise in power in any sphere, political or otherwise, the climb is steeper, the judgment harsher and the barriers higher than for men. There is no one lever for leveling a playing field that has been so heavily tilted for so long."
—Dr. Margie Warrell, Author and Advocate for Gender Diversity in Leadership
For more on pay equity and gaming...
Follow Erin Simon, gaming expert and gender activist.
Watch Christen Press discuss what it will take in professional sports to create an equal playing field.
Start a google doc in your workplace to track detailed compensation data, including base pay, and relocation packages
Men can follow these 7 steps to show up as an ally for their women coworkers.
Spread the word about Alia, a service that helps domestic workers get paid time off and insurance for just $5 per visit.
