Genius High Schoolers Make A Point About Gender Equality By Price Gouging Boys At A Bake Sale
A group of girls at a Utah high school created quite a stir this week with a simple school bake sale. The young geniuses decided to use the bake sale to make a not-so-subtle point about gender equality. They sold cookies. The price? A dollar for boys, 77 cents for girls.
“Because in America, for every dollar a man makes, a woman only makes 77 cents. So we’re raising awareness for this. So boys will pay a dollar and girls only pay 77 cents,” Kari Schott with the Young Democrats Club at Jordan High School told ABC News 4.
The reactions from fellow students were pretty amazing. One male student said, “I really think that women should be paid equally. A lot of women out there are just as good as men out there.” Solidarity! Sort of. Another male student seemed a little more frustrated that the young women weren’t able to explain themselves to his satisfaction: “I believe in what they’re doing. I believe in their standing for a cause, but I just don’t believe the statistics they’re using are correct. I would love to have a debate with them, about what they believe in. But the fact that they tell me to go away is kind of disheartening.” Future mansplainer in the making. High school really is a microcosm of society.
Schott said a lot of the students were frustrated with the sale — they thought it wasn’t “fair.” To that she replied, “yeah, it’s not fair. That’s why we’re doing it.”
That’s the frustrating thing about gender inequality, right? That it makes absolutely no sense. These girls have a genius idea here. I think it should be expanded in a broader way. Maybe some female-owned businesses should think about a price change for women. Maybe this will catch on. It should.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) explains that the pay gap between men and women has not budged in over a decade, and that it’s actually 78 cents to every man’s dollar. Women in every state experience a pay gap, but it’s worse in some states than in other. Women of color experience the widest pay gap, and the pay gap for all women increases with age. It’s great that these young women are starting early to bring awareness to their fellow students — even the ones who are annoyed by it.
(photo: ABC News 4)
