Last Blog post - The wage gap

The wage Gap

The most well-known aspect of the wage gap issue in America is that women are paid less than men for doing the same jobs, but the wage gap also extends to men of colour as well. It is also less well known that a wage gap is present between that of a white man and a man of colour, with a white man being paid more.

Every state in America experiences the wage gap, with Washington D.C having the smallest wage gap and Louisiana having the largest. Women in Washington D.C are paid 91 percent of what white men are paid compared to Louisiana where women are only paid 66 percent of what white men are paid. This wage gap is present no matter the occupation, even in female dominated fields the gap is still present. Although the wage gap can increase dramatically further for certain occupations.

For women of colour this gap is even worse, the largest gap being for Hispanic women who are only paid 54 percent of white men’s earnings. As the wage gap increases for women of colour it suggests the wage gap is an issue of gender and race rather than of other factors such as the level of education of the person. Although having a higher level of education can narrow the wage gap, the gap is still present for black and Hispanic women even when they have the same education as their white and Asian female peers. This shows that there is still a high level of racial discrimination in wages.

As well as all this, the wage gap is effected by age. Women on average earn about 90 percent of what men are paid until they are 35 and then the wage gap increases so that women are only paid 75-80 percent of what a man would earn.

 The issues with wage gaps extends to men of colour also, as the average black man will earn only $665 per week compared to the $768 a white man would earn for the same job. This means for every dollar the white man is paid the black man only earns 87 cents. The wage gap then further increases for Latino Americans who only get paid 77 cents per dollar the average white American would earn. What is interesting is that Asian men in America on average are paid 137 cents for every dollar the average American earns.

As well as these inequalities in pay for different genders and ethnic groups, there is also a very prominent wage gap for those of certain occupations. The average fast food worker will only be paid $382 a week compared to fast food service managers who are paid $744 a week. Adding to this all of the other factors mentioned above and a fast food worker could be paid much less than this. For example, if a Hispanic women worked in Louisiana and was over the age of 35 she would be paid significantly less than a white male of the same age working the same job for the same hours.

There is also further discrimination for working mothers, those with disabilities, and LGBT* individuals.

Wage gaps are present in other countries too, with the Annual survey of Hours and Earnings 2012 in the UK showed that the hourly rate of pay for men was £16.50, compared to £14.05 for women. This survey showed that women working full time would still earn £5,000 less than a male in the same occupation per year.

The wage gap issue is obviously not just one confined to America, but it is a much bigger problem in America. President Obama has signed several acts to address the wage gap issues in America, but the senate Republicans have voted against them each time meaning there is minimal help for those affected by the wage gap and no sign of change.

The fact that a wage gap even exists shows that there is still existing discrimination against certain people in American society, and the fact that here has been minimal effort to try and change this problem shows that this isn't just a problem that hasn't been fixed, it is a problem that a large proportion of American's do not care about fixing. The very fact that there is a political group who actively stopped acts being passed that could aid this problem shows how there are still a lot of very discriminative beliefs held in America. 

Sources:

http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2014/04/10/the-gender-pay-gap-is-just-the-beginning-of-americas-pay-inequity-problem/

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2014/05/19/90039/explaining-the-gender-wage-gap/

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/equalpayact1.html

http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality-issues/gender-equality/equal-pay/women-still-earn-%C2%A35000-year-less-men

http://www.nwlc.org/resource/how-wage-gap-hurts-women-and-families

Depression/Recession

This image is of a protest in Chicago during the great depression, and by the signs of the protesters you can tell they are protesting for jobs or money whilst unemployment, in the form of unemployment insurance. This image shows that during the great depression there was a significant loss of jobs, meaning that a large portion of the average population were unemployed simply due to the small amount of jobs available and not due to being unqualified.

This image shows a protest in New York city in April 2009, the signs in this image suggest that these people were protesting for jobs for the unemployed. By comparing these two images I can see that unemployment was a massive problem during both the great depression and the more recent recession. This would have led to a range of other problems, as if people can't work they can't pay bills and thus may find themselves homeless, they also may not have been able to buy necessities, such as food and clothing which would increase the number of homeless people. This would then make it hard for these people to obtain a job when there was more available due to being homeless. 

Pro and Anti gun control websites

Anti-gun control (http://pinkpistols.org/?q=node/4):

This website is aimed towards LGBT people and it provides information on why someone from a sexual minority should have a gun, as well as information on where in the USA they have chapters of their group. This website states; “The more people know that members of our community may be armed, the less likely they will be to single us out for attack. Join us today. It is your RIGHT.” This shows that the main reason for the creation of this website is to promote the idea that if LGBT individuals are carrying guns then those that wish to harm them will be less likely to target them. It also suggests that if some LGBT individuals are carrying a concealed weapon those that wish to hurt them won’t know which individuals are carrying and which are not so they will be less likely to attack anyone just in case.

One of the main focuses of this website is to provide a place where people who want to arm themselves can go to find out about Pink Pistol groups in their area where they can learn about gun safety, how to get a gun, gun laws in their state, and how to shoot.

This group isn’t heavily involved with any specific political party, but they do promote certain candidates if they feel they promote LGBT rights and their rights to own weapons. They are also not associated with the NRA, and are classed as an activists association.

This website states how it is wrong that you can take so long to be checked to see if you can own a gun to then be denied the right to. Thus, suggesting they are anti-gun control to some extent.

Pro- gun control (http://www.bradycampaign.org/) :

This website aim is to change people’s perspective of guns and provide people with the right information on the risks of having a gun in the home, as well as this it also aims to influence and change gun laws to increase the background checks needed for someone to purchase and own a gun. They also aim to hold the gun industry accountable for gun injuries and deaths, such as changing companies so that they have better rules in place so they do not sell guns to dangerous people. I personally feel that this is a better approach than the previous website, which wanted to reduce the background checks so potentially more dangerous people could own guns.

Sources: http://pinkpistols.org/?q=node/4

http://www.bradycampaign.org/

Beyoncé

Beyoncé Knowles is an American singer raised in Houston, Texas. She was originally a member of a girl group called Destiny’s Child, but she went on to create her own very successful solo career. Currently her newest album holds the position of the most downloaded album on iTunes, with 828,773 downloads. Beyoncé performed at President Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, which shows just how known she is, as she was asked to perform at such a prestige’s event to such a large audience. 

Beyoncé is part African American and part Creole, and despite this and her being a women she has still won 16 Grammys, made the Forbes Top 10 list of entertainers and earned an estimated $350 million as of 2014. This all shows how peoples view on race have changed as in the past an African American/Creole female singer would not have been able to gain this kind of popularity and success. Beyoncé’s fame is an example of how society’s views on race have changed since the past to allow someone of Beyoncé’s heritage to have such a successful career.

Beyoncé has also had a positive impact on many people as Beyoncé has sang of female empowerment and at the recent 2014 VMA’s she sang in front of a large sign saying ‘Feminist’. She then went on to describe the meaning of the word, this is a significant event as it shows an African American women proudly stating how she believes in equality.

To conclude, I believe Beyoncé is a great example of how an African American/Creole women can be treated in today’s society compared to the discrimination she would have faced in the past. Due to the changes in the views on race Beyoncé has been able to reach the level of stardom she has achieved.

Sources:

http://www.mtv.com/news/1719180/beyonce-sales-record-itunes/

http://www.biography.com/people/beyonc%C3%A9-knowles-39230#early-life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0461498/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

12 Years a slave

I do not feel I can say I enjoyed the film 12 years a slave as I don’t feel that this is a film to be enjoyed. The film is well made, but it is not meant to be easy to watch or entertaining, it is meant to show a true story in all its horror. There is nothing fun about watching it, its purpose is to show Solomon’s story and give us a visual retelling of what was most likely a common occurrence at the time.

         At the beginning of the film Solomon is tricked and kidnapped into slavery. At first this seemed pointless to me, why would the ‘circus men’ go through all of that just to gain a slave? But then I realised that it was because they did not have to purchase Solomon to then try to sell him on to make a profit, they got him for free so they were guaranteed a profit. It was obvious that they knew Solomon was a free slave and so there must have been very little in the way of punishment for slave traders who were caught selling a free person under the pretence that they were a slave. The only reason those men wanted Solomon was so that they could make a profit, they did not think of his family or what they would be selling him into. I imagine this would be a fairly common occurrence at the time, which shows that even though a free man is legally free many slave traders and masters would not care as they still saw all black people as property no matter what their free papers said.

          Even before Solomon’s kidnapping the film shows that the idea of a free slave at the time was rare, even though it was legally allowed. During the beginning of the film Solomon and his family are shown going about their daily business, including entering a shop to buy a bag for Solomon’s wife, Anne. During this scene we see a black man enter the shop behind Solomon and look around with a confused expression. The shop owner treats this confused man as if he is just a normal customer, as he should be, but we then see that this confused man is a slave when his master comes into the shop to angrily collect him. This shows that being a free black man at this time would have been strange for many slaves, as I assume they would wonder why they are a slave and the free black man is not. This strengthens the idea that it was easy to kidnap a free black person as for many slaves and white people it would be unheard of in their community for a black person to be anything other than a slave.

        The changing of Solomon’s name to Platt shows that slave masters would give their slaves new names to dehumanise them, somewhat like giving a new pet a name. This is also shown by how the name Platt is not a name a white man at the time would have, it is a name a person would make up to give to their dog not to give to their child.

            One negative criticism I have of this film is that I feel it would have been a much stronger portrayal of slavery if the film followed the life of female slave. I understand that this film was based on a true account and thus follows the life of the man who wrote this account, but I feel that from watching this film the life of a male slave would have been less complex that of a female slave.

       As we saw in this film families were split up when sold, including taking children away from their mothers. During the scenes where Solomon is being sold we can see a slave trader willing to sell a mother and her son but not her daughter, as the daughter would be worth more as she will grow up to be beautiful due to the fact that she looked more ‘white’. The mother obviously new that her daughter was essentially being kept because she would be worth more because for her sexual appeal later in life. This must have been devastating for both mother and child, and yet we only see a small glimpse of this truth in the film. We see that the mother later on is distraught over losing her children and cannot hide her grief no matter what Solomon says to her. Solomon knows his family are safe, this women doesn't know where her children are and whether she will ever see them again.

        I feel that the life of a slave like Patsey would have been a much more complex film based on just the glimpses of it we see in the film. The way she is prized for her speed at picking cotton, yet still treated like less than human like the other slaves even though Epps is quite obviously sexually attracted to her. The fact that no one, other than Epps wife, complains about the relationship between Epps and patsey shows that there is more of a story behind this kind of relationship between an unwilling slave and the slave master. Epps treats Patsey as if there is nothing he cannot do to his slaves as they are his property, and I feel if that if the film followed a female slaves life this would be explored more.

          This film does show that slavery was different depending on a slaves gender and age, a young man was seen as perfect for working in the fields where as an older male slave is seen as trustworthy enough to have a small amount of power over the other salves. This is shown in the film by an older male slave telling Solomon to get off the porch and an older slave wielding a whip and telling the other salves to keep working in the fields. Younger women were made to tend the house or do less physically demanding work in the fields, and they were more highly priced if they were attractive, which again hints that female slaves were used for more than just their work and that slave traders were well aware of this fact and as a result raised the price of attractive female salves. Older female slaves seem to have been more trusted to do the house work, and as the film shows in some occasions a female slave may become the partner of a white slave owner.

        The relationship between Ford and his slaves is interesting in this film as Ford is seen as a kind and lenient slave master and yet when Solomon tells him he is free Ford gets angry because he doesn't want to know about it. I feel as if Ford acts under the idea of plausible deniability, if he doesn't know a slave was a free man he doesn't have to think about it or do anything to help that slave.  This contrasts with Epps who would very obviously disregard any problems a slave was having, such as at the end of the film when he was adamant that Solomon was his property and not a free man.

       To conclude, I believe that this film is a very complex film and could be analysed in many different ways. It shows the truth of slavery from the events that happened in Solomon’s life, yet I feel like it could have explored the lives of female slaves in more detail. It gave a good account of the different types of slave masters and the various mind sets held by different slaves. The fact that it is from the point of view of Solomon, a slave rather than a white man is interesting and is what makes this film so important. Although the type of person Solomon is does effect the view we get as viewers, the film is still from a slave’s perspective and it does show many aspects of slavery in a compelling and shocking way.

Sources:

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/01/12-years-slave-asks-us-most-important-question-why

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/

Slave Narrative - John W. Fields

John W. Fields, Age 89

“In most of us colored folks was the greatest desire to [be] able to read and write.”

This suggests that most slaves wished to be educated and would fully appreciate the opportunity to do so if it was given to them by their owner. He goes on to say that “we took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves” which goes against the slave owner’s idea that slaves were not smart and not capable of being educated. The narrative also tells us that if a slave was caught trying to learn they would be severely punished, and if “a white man was caught trying to educate a Negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence”. A punishment like this would have deterred the majority of white people from trying educate slaves.

“Our ignorance was the greatest hold the South had on us” This is the most important line from this narrative in my opinion. This suggests that the reason slave owners did not want slaves being educated was so that the slaves remained ignorant and thus did not fight back against their slavery. If a slave was educated they wouldn't be seen as unintelligent animals that can be used for slavery, they would be educated on the same level as a white slave owner and thus capable of doing more educated jobs, jobs that only the white man did at the time. An educated slave would threaten the employment prospects of the white people, if slaves were educated then white man could no longer deny their human rights by saying that they were like animals, they would be seen as more equal and this scared the white people.

John W. Fields describes how him and the other slaves were never allowed to go into town, which meant that until he ran away he didn't even know that the white people “sold anything but slaves, tobacco,  and whiskey”. Which shows that slaves were kept in a very isolated world, only knowing what their slave master wanted them to know, they had no connection to anything or anyone outside of their plantation unless their master wanted them to. This shows how the slave masters had complete control over all aspects of the slave’s lives, they could tell them where to go and what to do to the extent that they could completely isolate a slave for their entire life.

“We knew we could run away, but what then?”

This shows how this enforced isolation would mean a slave would have no choice but to stay on the plantation and work, as they knew so little about the word away from the plantation they would not know what to do if they managed to run away from their slave master. 

Sources:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snvoices01.html

Louisiana

Louisiana

Population: 4,533,372 (2010 Census estimate)

The Louisiana state flag shows the state bird, the eastern brown pelican, in white and gold, on a background of blue. The mother pelican is wounding herself to feed her three young. It also states Louisiana’s motto, “Union, Justice and Confidence”

Louisiana consists of many different people, such as the original Indian inhabitants of America, as well as those of French, Spanish, English, German, Acadian*, West Indian, African, Irish and Italian decent. This makes Louisiana a very diverse state, an example of how these different people have influenced today’s Louisiana is that the national dog of Louisiana is the Catahoula Leopard Dog. Which is a mix of a Spanish ‘war dog’ and the domestic dog the Indians of the Catahoula Lake region raised. This shows a mixing of the original inhabitants with the later settlers.

*The Acadian’s were originally a group of French settlers in 17^th century Canada. Who then later settled in America, and later became the Cajun people of Louisiana.

Louisiana is well known for its food, such as Jambalaya and gumbo. As well as Cajun music, played with traditional instruments, such as the fiddle, accordion and triangle. With the lyrics of Cajun sings being part French and part English. It is also known for its alligators and swamps.

The prominent occupations were originally farming, trappers and fishermen but today there is a wide range of occupations, with Cajuns being the leaders in the state’s oil and gas industry.

The state’s national tree shows how the geography of the area affects the state. The state tree is the bald cypress, and its shape depends on the amount, and duration of flooding in the state.

Louisiana’s climate is relatively constant, and not as hot as originally thought by looking at images from the state, with the average temperature being 20°C. Snow fall is rare in the south, and it occasionally snows in the north. The average rain fall annually is 64.2 inches and during the summer tropical storms and hurricanes are frequent, leading to severe flooding, especially along the coast. Which in the past has resulted in loss of life and property which can deter people from wishing to visit or move to Louisiana.

There is a large tourist industry in Louisiana, as 27.3 million people visited Louisiana in 2013, and $10.8 billion was spent by domestic and international visitors in 2013. With $807 million state tax revenues generated by travel and tourism in Louisiana. The top two reasons for visiting Louisiana are shopping and fine dining, which emphasises the connection between Louisiana and its food. People also visit for festivals, such as Mardi Gras.

Sources:

http://www.acadian-cajun.com/hisacad1.htm

http://louisiana.gov/Explore/About_Louisiana/

http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/flags/la_flag.htm

http://www.city-data.com/states/Louisiana-Climate.html

http://www.crt.state.la.us/tourism/louisiana-research/

http://www.louisianatravel.com/festivals

Space and place

This is a map showing the largest ancestry groups in North America. I found this interesting because it shows where immigrants to America settled and the number of different Americans with ancestors from each country.

49,206,934 Germans

The majority of German-Americans now live in the centre of America, in places such as Arizona.The first significant groups of German immigrants to arrive in the United States in the 1960s settled in New York and Pennsylvania. They immigrated due to unemployment and political unrest in Germany and the majority of German-Americans now live in the centre of America.

41,284,752 Black or African Americans

This refers to citizens of the United States who have ancestry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most African Americans are descended from slaves from west and central Africa. The majority live in the south, as this is where slaves were brought in to work on the cotton plantations, there are also African American communities in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan.  

35,523,082 Irish

During the time of famine in Ireland in the 1840s there was mass immigration from Ireland to America. Around 4.5 million Irish are estimated to have moved to America between 1840 and 1920. The majority of Irish descendants are located in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.  

31,789,483 Mexican

American’s with Mexican ancestry are most common on the south western border in places such as Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas and San Antonio.

26,923,091 English

Those that identify as English- American are mostly found in the Northeast of America in New England and Utah, with the number that identify as English – American having decreased since 1980 as many more people are just identifying as American.

19,911,467 Americans

A large proportion of those claiming to have original American ancestors are stating this because they are unsure of their ancestry.

17,558,598 Italian

Between 1880 and 1920 over 4 million Italians immigrated to America, and there was another wave of immigrants from Italy following world war two.

9,739,653 Polish

The Polish were one of the earliest groups from Eastern Europe to immigrate to America. Between the mid-19^th century and world war one around 2.5 million Polish immigrated to America and settled in the largest industrial cities, such as New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Chicago.

9,136,092 French

The French, along with the English, were some of the first people to have colonised North America. The most French populated areas are in the North East in border areas alongside Quebec and in the south around New Orleans and Louisiana.

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408591/American-ethnicity-map-shows-melting-pot-ethnicities-make-USA-today.html

http://www.ushistory.org/us/25f.asp

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/Italianhistory.html

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/italian3.html

http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm

http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Du-Ha/French-Americans.html

Icons of America

Image 1: The statue of liberty 

The statue of liberty was originally a gift from France as a symbol of the alliance between the two countries during the American Revolution, but it has now become an iconic symbol of liberty. The statue of liberty is located near Ellis Island which was the place of arrival for about 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954. This meant that the first distinctive thing seen by the millions of immigrants who were entering America in search of the ‘American Dream’ was the statue of liberty, thus it became a symbol of hope and freedom.

Although, it acts as a symbol of liberty there have been attempts to close America’s borders, such as the immigration control and reform act of 1986, which contradicts the idea of liberty for all and show’s a more narrow idea of liberty only for those already classed as legal American citizens. 

Image 2: Police

When I think of America I think of the police, whether it’s a city cop or a Sheriff it is still a distinctive icon of American freedom. The American police are supposed to enforce the law so as to maintain the freedom of America, yet there have been increasing numbers of incidents of unnecessary police brutality and other unlawful behaviour.
Of the 6,613 police officers who were involved in alleged cases of misconduct in 2010, 1,575 were involved in reports of excessive force. Where as in 2009 only 1,457 police officers were cited as being involved in police misconduct. This shows a marked increase in police misconduct over a period of just one year. This negates the link between America and liberty as the very thing put in place to uphold this liberty is affected by corruption. How can a country claim to be the country of the free when those who live there are harmed by the very people put in place to protect their freedom? 

     On the other hand, this relatively small number of cases of misconduct could be seen as the price to pay for liberty. 

 

sources:

http://www.history.com/topics/statue-of-liberty

http://heindorffhus.motivsamler.dk/worldheritage/frame-USA-Liberty.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/30/in-1986-congress-tried-to-solve-immigration-why-didnt-it-work/

http://www.uscis.gov/tools/glossary/immigration-reform-and-control-act-1986-irca

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/statue-liberty-meaning-and-use-national-symbol#sect-thelesson

http://www.policemisconduct.net/statistics/