Male Colleagues Tell A Female Heart Surgeon That The ‘Gender Pay Gap’ Isn’t Real, And She Exposes The Truth
It's sad to admit, but the truth is that the wage gap between men and women is very real. We made have made strides in bringing women into the workforce, putting them in leadership positions, and closing that gap, but the reality is that there's still lots of work to be done.
Dr. Nikki Stamp, a heart and lung transplant surgeon from Australia, finally had enough when her male colleagues told her the gender pay gap wasn't real for two decades. She gathered all the evidence in a viral Twitter thread.
Fueled By Her Male Colleagues Remarks For TWO Decades
The irony here is not only was the pay gap even worse two decades ago, but it's still very much present today.
Can you imagine someone who isn't in your shoes trying to deny you your own experiences? This what finally pushed Dr. Stamp to her limit and she decided to expose the truth.
First, She Defines The Gender Gap
In order to argue something, you usually first need to make sure everyone understands what you're arguing. But the definition of the gender pay gap is so much bigger than simply the difference in pay for the same jobs between men and women.
To understand the pay gap is to understand women's position in society and how that factors into their finances.
To Limit It To Equal Pay Is To Oversimplify It
Let's be honest, even if we all woke up tomorrow and men and women magically started getting paid the same, the root of the issue would still not be addressed.
The real issue is in the difference in how men and women are treated in society and how that trickles into their place in the workforce.
The Numbers Don't Lie
The reason that this is still an issue could be that it's often dismissed. Often men don't believe in the existence of it or attribute it to women who have children.
This is why it's so important to lay out the data and the scientific evidence, which is much harder to argue with. The numbers prove that the gap is very much real.
Take Her Role As A Surgeon, For Example
Not even the people we trust to cut our hearts open and keep us alive get paid the same. It's not like the men are more trustworthy or the women have lower success rates.
There is always an excuse. In this case, it's the limited data on the experience of these women compared with the men. But if you think about it, it's the gap that prevented women from occupying such roles in the first place.
There's Little Room For Women To Even Fight This
Yes, maybe COVID made it more difficult to find the necessary budget or even time to reduce the gap, but the issue was there long before COVID, and if not addressed, it will just continue after it, too.
If it was that easy to negotiate for equal pay, it would've already been done.
This Is Happening Worldwide
Dr. Stamp is Australia-based, but her concerns are reflected all over, including the U.S. and Canada.
The numbers show that the gap isn't even so slight that it might go unnoticed, but as high as a 24% difference for the same crucial role of a surgeon. She points out that the gap in Australia can go up as high as 64% for orthopedic surgeons!
You Must Be Wondering Why This Is Happening
The reasons not only seem unfair, but they don't even stop there. Other aspects of it include poor career progression/promotion, more caring responsibilities, and casual contracts that preclude maternity leave.
Childbearing and child rearing do affect pay, but it is not the only reason the pay gap exists. Even women without children experience it.
How Do We Fix This?
Dr. Stamp is just one of many women in the workforce who faces unequal pay every day. She brought awareness to the issue, which is a great first step, but it doesn't actually fix it.
That doesn't mean that there aren't ways to close the gap, such as the ones outlined in her tweet. It's a matter of now actually setting them in motion universally. That's a whole other issue.
Yet The Internet Continues To Be Divided
Even when Dr. Stamp laid out the numbers and data as evidence, the internet was still divided in how they responded. Some still argued that this was somehow based on women's own decisions.
No matter where you stand, the number of women who feel like they've experienced the gender pay gap is very high.
