Photo love {Inspiration}: Inequality via Jennifer Lawrence in Vogue December 2015

Aristotle

Vogue December 2015

Have you experienced inequality in your life?

I found it interesting to think about this, especially after reading Jennifer Lawrence’s essay on unequal pay among actors in Hollywood.  Like she said, I, like many other people, can’t relate to negotiating for a few million more to be on par with male colleagues in my field.  But I do have to think whether I have experienced inequality because of something that is inherent to me – my age, ethnicity, or gender.

I feel like I’ve actually been lucky for the most part.  I was always encouraged to study hard because education could be an equalizer.  So I studied until I would be accepted to specialized schools in my area. I was also fortunately a pretty voracious reader.  I loved all kinds of books and would happily create my own summer reading lists.  I also begrudgingly but willingly pored over study guides and test preparation materials for standardized tests because I knew I had to do well.  If I scored well on exams, I would have a better chance of attending my dream school and then getting my dream job.

Years later, I can safely say that I did attend a few fabulous schools and even met my husband through one of them.  I also got to travel and live the world through various jobs.  But I can also still see that I’m one of a fortunate few.

I really started to think about inequality after thinking about Aristotle’s quote above.  There isn’t inequality if there is no effort to make things more equal right?  Yet inequality can happen at any stage of life. It is an issue being addressed in programs balancing and enabling kids of different socioeconomic backgrounds to enter the right schools and professions.  It can happen later in life as women enter and become more experienced in the workforce but may not rise through the ranks at the same levels as their male counterparts.  Or it can happen to anyone that may be penalized if they take a break from a career to spend time with family or pursue personal endeavors. But we should still keep fighting inequality in any respect.  Then we will no longer have to fight to make things equal when they are already equal.

Some day.

Have a lovely week!