It’s 2011, right? Um, so can anyone tell me why women are STILL getting paid less than men for equal work? Because, as a newly minted college grad looking to jump start my career (and pay off my loans), I’d really like to know.

In a study of nearly 13,000 graduating seniors last fall, researchers discovered that the median starting salary for female college graduates with bachelor’s degrees was $36,451. Not bad, right? Except that the median salary for male college graduates with a bachelor’s degree was $7,708 more. For the same job.

So, apparently having a penis gets you a pay raise? I guess all of those nights I spent praying for boobs in 7th grade would’ve been better spent asking for something else.

The statistics are sad and infuriating. After all, women make up over 50% of university classes! We’re being educated like never before, so it’s not like that’s working against our changes. And the study could not find a correlation between college major and earning, meaning that it’s not like guys are making more money because they tend to pursue a field that pays more. They’re just getting paying more…because they’re men. And keep in mind this is before the company sees any type of job performance.

That sounds fair and equal. Read More »

For years, women’s participation in the United States workforce was greatly limited. However, throughout the country’s history, women have made great strides toward equality in the workforce. We even get to run blogs!

So today, in honor of the female CEOs, doctors, teachers, political figures and more, our friends from the CreditScore Blog are helping us celebrate women in the workplace. Read More »

Thanks to this whole 5-day dating challenge, I’ve had a pretty tiring week….and my still cheeks hurt from smiling all the time. But no pain no gain, right? And by “gain” I mean “guys approaching me and offering to buy me drinks.”

Thankfully, since all our favorite TV shows did the rerun thing this week (well, except for Jersey Shore’s lame ass finale), it’s not like there was much else going on to occupy my time. That meant plenty of time to focus on making myself more approachable, and answer the many pressing questions CollegeCandy proposed:

What are the most ubiquitous college student stereotypes?

Why is everyone making such a big deal about the Glee GQ photos?

We call ourselves accepting?

Why are people still dating John Mayer?

Why are Yale frat boys so disgusting?

What does a girl’s drink of choice say about her? Read More »

I’ve never been overly patriotic. There are no American flags hanging in my room and even if I had snagged the athletic gene in my family, I still wouldn’t wake up at 5 am twice a week for ROTC. I don’t believe like some that the U.S. is “the best country in the world,” yet I’ve always felt that as an American, I am offered more freedoms and opportunities than almost any other country’s citizens.

So, I was surprised by the news this week that America ranks nineteenth in gender equality. In other words, based on factors including salary equality, education, political representation and life expectancy, the Global Gender Gap Report determined that women in eighteen countries come out ahead of us American females.

I was disappointed, but maybe I should have been happy- nineteen is a big improvement from 31^st last year, and 27^th the year before.

Nineteenth out of 134 countries really isn’t terrible…but it isn’t exactly wonderful either. In a high school graduating class, the land of the free and the home of the brave wouldn’t have even received Honors. Iceland would be the valedictorian of woman’s equality, but I don’t suggest a mass exodus of down-stuffed-parka-wearing women to the Nordic country. (I spent one shivering winter in Chicago and that was enough for me.) Even there, women don’t have it as great as men. Read More »

Watch out men – here we come!

The most memorable TV moments of 2009.

Kim Kardashian’s making bank with Twitter.

The 7 worst marriage proposals.

10 ways to winterize a summer dress.

Is Katy Perry engaged?

Working on Fifth Avenue at New York City is nothing short of glamorous. Every day, I walk to work on one of NYC’s most famous streets, cutting through Central park, walking by the Plaza, passing Saks and finally entering the headquarters of one of the largest beauty companies in the world to work on photoshoots and press kits while bumping into celebs (and their stylists) in the process.<

Finally being dropped into the “9-5” has me thinking a lot more about my future. What if I want to be the chief executive one day? How feasible is that? What would my income be?

Although it is possible for a woman to become a CEO, out of the “Fortune 500” (the USA’s 500 biggest publicly traded companies), only thirteen of those CEOs are female. That’s only 2.6%.

We’ve had our first female presidential and vice-presidential candidate in the past year and higher education for women is on the rise, yet women are still not holding top positions in companies. The cherry on top of all of this? Even the women who have managed to make their way to the top are still the worst paid out of all CEOs.

Aside from the incredible income disparities, the issue we should be focusing on is why women CEOs are such a rare commodity, not necessarily the size of the paychecks. In 2005, Sheila Wellington was interviewed by Anne Fisher (CNN Money) on this exact issue. Wellington was no stranger to gender discrimination; she was forced to sign an agreement when she accepted her first position after graduating from Radcliffe that stated that she must not get pregnant for at least her first two years.

Wellington went on to become the president of Catalyst, a non-profit research group and is now a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. When confronted with the question of the lack of female executives, Wellington stated, “I think we are in the midst of a cycle right now where there is a widespread perception that women aren’t fully committed to their careers. It tends to happen every time the spotlight is on a high-ranking woman who flames out, like [former Hewlett-Packard CEO] Carly Fiorina. You start hearing all kinds of people analyzing ‘what women are doing wrong.’” Read More »

Is gender equality in college that important?

According to NPR, colleges are favoring male applicants ahead of female candidates, in order to keep schools from becoming overwhelmingly female. Other than being a seemingly blatant violation of Title IX, I can’t quite figure out if this is good or bad.

So I took a look at both sides:

Gender balance on a college campus is not a bad thing. It’s been a long standing argument for Affirmative Action that diversity enhances the learning experience, and it’s true. Guys see things differently than us ladies and hearing their perspective can really change the way we think. As a graduate of an all-girls high school, I can honestly say that having males in the college classroom was a welcomed change and a truly eye-opening experience. And even what happens outside of the classroom – including dating – is an important part of college life and growing up.

And let’s not pretend we don’t see the obvious perk here. With colleges accepting more male students there will be less competition on the hunt for a boyfriend. You may be just as romantically-challenged, but at least there are less girls around to point that out. Can’t hate that. Read More »

Dude, where are all the dudes?!

Here’s some food for thought: for every 100 women at American colleges, there are only 77 men. And for every 100 women who graduate from American colleges, only 73 guys manage to snag their Bachelor’s degree.

The college gender gap isn’t a new phenomenon—women first started outnumbering men in 1982—but it is widening by a significant margin every year. I knew that there were statistically more women than men in the world of higher education (and of a much higher caliber), but I had no idea that the discrepancy was so huge. Projections show that enrollment could soon grow closer to a 60/40 ratio, making men even scarcer on campuses than they are already.

I’m really mystified by the extent of the gender gap. Where the hell are all the guys going? Haven’t they heard that college is awesome—an opportunity to open your mind and push your liver to its absolute limit, one last chance to enjoy freedom from responsibility before being unceremoniously thrust headfirst into the real world? (Can you tell I’m a senior?)  And on a more serious note, don’t they know that having a B.A. is pretty much essential if they want to get a good job?

Does the scarcity of dudes mean that a college environment is naturally more suited to girls than guys? The fact that our culture views guy-centric things like football games and wild frat parties as stereotypically “college” activities would seem to contradict this idea, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers. Read More »

Tomorrow is Equal Pay Day, a public awareness event to draw attention to the gender pay gap. Today, women make about 80 cents per every dollar a man makes.

It’s ridiculous – if we do the same work, we should get paid the same. Am I right!? [Crowd cheers.]

But I’m here to say that we not only deserve equal pay, but should actually be making more money than men. Here are 5 very real reasons why:

1. Women are biologically superior to men. We have a longer life expectancy, more grey matter in our brains (it’s useful stuff, trust me) and can have multiple orgasms. We aren’t as susceptible to many inherited diseases (like hemophilia and colorblindness) because we have two X chromosomes rather than just one.

2. We work twice as much. Most women and men work eight-hour days. But when women get home, they have to cook, clean, and take care of the kids. This extra work is known by feminists as the “second shift” and we deserve to be compensated for it.

3. Women are more qualified than man. Women get better grades and take more advanced placement classes in high school. Nearly sixty-percent of undergraduate college students are women, and women earn more bachelor and graduate degrees then men. Read More »

You know what I’ve always wanted to do? Pee standing up.

Seriously. Growing up with two brothers, I was always jealous of how quickly and easily they could rid themselves of their Yoo-Hoo juice boxes. I tried it a few times (I can’t believe I’m admitting this), but it was far from a success. Unless you consider washing the bathmat and changing my pants a success.

My desire for the speediness peeing standing up allowed only intensified with each passing bathroom line at a party. I attempted to use the men’s room many times – because there is never a line there – but the weird looks and disgusting floors became just too much for me. So I stopped. And I waited in line like a lady while my fellow squatters took their sweet ass time.

It is infuriating, boring and a total buzz kill. But it looks like it may be a problem no longer. Ladies, we can finally pee like the boys do. Read More »