You run like a girl. You hit like a girl. You get paid like a girl. Only, what about the girls winning olympic gold medals in running, like the 400 meter dash gold medalist in 2012 Sanya Richards-Ross? Or, girls like Tori Nelson who is a boxer ranked number one in the US and number two in the world? Women are not being paid the same as men for doing the same job and in my opinion, it’s not fair.

According to the US Census Bureau, on average women are earning 23 percent less than men. That’s only 77 cents for every dollar a man is making while doing the same job, with the same qualifications. Even if women have nearly the exact same education as their male counterparts, as time passes the man will most likely end up with a larger salary. The Washington Post has stated that if you take into account what jobs these men and women are taking it’s only a 6 percent gap. But a six percent gap is still a gap and some people believe this gap could be closed if women choose higher paying jobs.

Choosing a lower paying job means choosing to get paid less. However, more and more women are breaking into the field of engineering and mathematics and still getting paid less than a man with the same job. As reported by ASME or, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the percent of women in engineering has gone from 5.8 percent in the 1980s to 14 percent today. Only it’s harder to be an engineer as a woman when you have to take time off to take care of a family and usually it’s the woman, not the man, who does this.

Taking time off for having a family is another thing researchers have to consider while calculating pay. Even though, The Pregnancy Discrimination Act passed in 1978 made it illegal for a woman to be discriminated in the workplace because she is pregnant. Which means she should get the same amount of paid leave any other employee with a medical condition gets, even a man.

As for time off to raise children, the Family and Medical Leave Act established in 1993 makes it a requirement for companies with more than 50 employees to give new parents 12 weeks off without pay. When they are able return, they can return to the same job and the same pay. According to the New York Times only 14 percent of companies do offer a paid 12 week leave for new parents and 20 percent of companies that are supposed to give unpaid leave, don’t even do that.

I do run like a girl and I do hit like a girl which means, that I also get paid like a girl. Only 77 cents to the man’s dollar even if I have the same qualifications and am doing the same job. But theoretically If I want to have a family and work, I can do that too. Unless of course I have a job with one of the companies in that 20 percent that won’t give me pregnancy leave, paid or unpaid. The fight for equal pay has been going on too long and if everyone was able to follow the rules it wouldn’t even be a problem anymore.