A day after the beginning of the end, i.e. Trump’s inauguration as President, women and people who care about women are marching on Washington D.C and cities around the country. Yeah, you’ve probably heard about it and/or received a Facebook invite to a similar march in your hometown. But ew, marching = exercise = work, so you should just stay at home. Right? As our now president (*screaming internally*) would say, WRONG. Here’s why you need to give a shit.
So WTF is the Women’s March?
Crowds are planning to march along the National Mall, like majorly big crowds, too. Hundreds of thousands are expected to turn out and turn up in D.C. alone, and probz millions more in marches organized around the country. You can find your local march here.
Probably the most important thing to note is that the marches aren’t being called “protests” for a reason. Organizers and marchers are saying they are a way to “promote women’s equity and defend other marginalized groups”. So, yes, even if you voted for the screaming cheeto as President, you can still march and support equality. I’m p sure the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
Though, to stand up to the pussy-grabbing POTUS, women are making a buying “pussyhats”—pink knit hats with cat ears, naturally. If you don’t look good in hats, you can just come up with a shirt or a sign or some other clever thing to wear.
Why should you care about women’s issues and this march?
UH because you are one, or at least, were birthed by one. Also, if you like your insurance to pay for your birth control, want access to female health care, think men and women should be paid equally for the same job, and don’t want to end up as a tribute in the Hunger Games, you might want to start standing up for yourself, fellow betches, and the future. Just sayin.
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Well betches, we finally made it past the joke of a year that was 2016, and we all know what that means: time to make your new years resolutions, and attempt not to break them during your first blackout night of 2017 (that’s for your second blackout night of 2017). In our perpetual mission to get our shit together, we know you’re trying to save more money in 2017 so you can finally buy yourself a dog or like, meet your personal goal of retiring by age 35. You’ve come to the right place.
As you might already be aware, as part of our partnership with our favorite beauty brand Soap & Glory, we declared December as National Ask For A Raise Month. We’re thrilled to say that the response was even better than we hoped for — we got tons of submissions of success stories, as well as questions about pay and general career advice. We’re prouder than Yolanda Foster at Paris Fashion Week.
Thanks to your overwhelmingly positive response, the good news is that we’re expanding the Slay Your Pay campaign into 2017. Why should the raises end just because December did? Let your cup bank balance runneth over. What if we told you you could keep your new years resolution to save more money, while buying the same amount of shit as before? This, betches, is why we’re keeping this campaign and the convo about the pay gap going.
Speaking of betches taking a stand, we’re not sure if you heard, but the day after the inauguration this year (that would be January 21st, let’s see if your resolutions are still intact by then), there’s going to be a ‘UGE women’s march on Washington.
The goal of the march is to stand in solidarity with women’s rights, which includes a whole array of shit, other than our salaries, that we definitely take for granted. Women have been marching a LOT throughout history, and if we didn’t have all these marches, we probably wouldn’t even be allowed to have these jobs in which we suffer from unequal pay. Sad!
What is the gender pay gap and why should I care?
Basically the gender pay gap means that women, on average, are only paid 80% of what men are (aka for every dollar a man gets, a woman only gets 80 cents) for doing equivalent jobs that require equivalent experience. And while making 20 cents less than your boyfriend sounds like nbd, over time this turns into a fuckload of money. I object!
If there was no wage gap, a woman would earn on average $530,000 more over her lifetime, which in some states could buy you a literal mansion. Do you care yet?
That’s like, so unfair. How can this happen?
The sad truth is that the pay gap starts with a discrepancy between men and women’s entry level salaries, usually right out of college. Men tend to negotiate for higher pay than women, and many people simply don’t know that you can or should negotiate, or that it’s up to us to ask for a raise. The employer isn’t going to just offer because you’re pretty.
What can I personally do about this?
Omg so glad you asked. Many of our readers told us about their successful experience asking for a raise during Decembetch (aka National Ask For A Raise Month), and you can be one of them. If you yourself aren’t in a position to ask for a raise right now because you just started a new job, or you’re about to leave, you can spread awareness by telling your friends about it. This is totally in your interest as well, because the more money they have, the less annoying they’re going to be about splitting the bill evenly at group dinners, trust me.
How do I ask?
You just fucking ask. You can also read our article on how to ask for a raise like a betch.
Also, we’ll be continuing to share Slay Your Pay stories on our podcast Betch Slapped, and dedicating one of our Dear Betch submissions every week to career-related advice, so if you want a shout out (anonymous or not), you should share your story with us by email at [email protected] and maybe we’ll read it on the ‘cast.
What is the Women’s March and how do I get involved?
The march is taking place on January 21st in Washington DC. It is an inclusive march, with the goal of standing in peaceful solidarity against all types of injustices against women. You don’t have to buy a ticket, just show up. Maybe get some glitter glue and make like, a sign or something.
Check out the Facebook event here. To let everyone know you’re going you should probably RSVP, even though the Statue of Liberty doesn’t say you have to.
ABOUT SOAP & GLORY
Soap & Glory has been supporting the Clean of England since 2006, when we decided to formulate fun, world-class quality beauty products that would give every girl the best bang for her beauty budget. We suggest using Soap & Glory with equal parts happiness and abandon, because we believe while beauty absolutely matters, it doesn’t matter absolutely.
