New York Bar Closes Pay Gap for Women?

Earlier this week, a bar called The Way Station in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn decided to use the date (7/7) to draw attention to the fact that the average American woman earns ~77 cents for every dollar the average American man makes. The comparison becomes even more stark when you look at it through the lens of race; black women earn 64% what the average white American man makes, Hispanics earn 54%, and American Indians earn 65%. 

 

The owner of the bar, a man named Andy Heidel, cited his three sisters and his many female employees as his inspiration for the event. Since the promotion was for one night only, it aimed more to spark conversation than to make a lasting financial difference. It certainly did that, and in the process attracted a huge crowd. Reports indicate that it was standing room only from 6pm onward. Heidel estimates the bar patrons that night were 85% female, which sound like decent odds to this ladygay.

 

Of course any time someone makes a public commentary on women's rights and equality, there's always a small group of men and their misguided female allies who decide to claim men are injured by any effort to level the field. The bar's Facebook page briefly became a gathering place for a handful of Men's Rights Advocates (MRAs), who played their tiny violin and proclaimed that this was sexism, and that women actually make more money than men do. One noble and highly logical gentleman named David Lavery went so far as to insinuate violence against women, saying, "I wouldn't go near that place if I was near by . And if women want equal pay they should also accept being forced to join the forces. They would make good targets for live machine gun practice."

 

The owner isn't upset about threats to boycott. "For those men complaining about it, those are not the type of people I want as customers so this promotion is helping to weed out those who do not want to treat women with respect.” As for those who say women's career choices are what lead us to the 77/100 figure, Heidel dismisses them saying, "I'm sure if you took national average, all the male CEOs would skew the numbers even more."

 

Count me in for a visit to The Way Station next time I'm in New York.