READ THIS BEFORE: http://www.huhmagazine.co.uk/9297/a-pop-up-shop-is-charging-women-76-cents-for-every-mans-dollar
This article for HUH Magazine’s website speaks of a store in Pittsburg known as 76<100. The graphic designer Alana Schlenker created this retail store recently that charges females only 76% of the retail price while men pay a full 100%. Schlenker made this store in honor of National Equal Pay Day, to acknowledge and emphasize how out of date and offensive it is that women who work full time jobs in Pennsylvania only earn 76 cents for every full dollar a male earns.
The concept of the store, as well as the forward and clear décor of the window display is a clever way of simply writing out the unfair and corrupt pay wages. Schlenker investigates this issue further as she compares the pay wages to society’s value system of gender. She is also humble with her work as she believes it is a “small way that I can do something about it” but the store 76<100 is hardly a small statement, in fact it is a very bold one. It is also one that could have a huge impact on the equal pay rights of many other city as it speaks of branching out, and labeling the other fronts with that cities ratio of women’s cents to the male dollar.
It would seems old fashion that these stores’ erection even be necessary because equal pay should most definitely be a issue of the past, one that has already been established as completely sexist and unjust. But no, it is still present and extremely concerning that females are still not being recognized equally in the workplace.
How can this impactful discrimination against females in the workforce have lasted this long?
Do you think that men will change their opinions of this unfairness when they feel the same rejection and bias within the store 76<100?
What are other ways females can fight the huge issue that is unfair pay?
Feminism and Women's Bodies 
I think that this is a fantastic idea to meaningfully create change regarding the wage gap. The frustration a man feels going into that store is exactly the kind of thing the store owner wants to point out. Because the real world is unfair, frustrating and unforgiving to women it only makes sense to let men feel that as well. I think that small steps like opening a store like this will bring forward some of the hypocrisy that some men have regarding this issues. I respect it because it is bold, but I think that opening a store with this business model has a few huge problems that should be addressed at some point.
Firstly, It isn’t a feminist store at all, let’s just get that out of the way. The store only works because it has a singular goal in mind and that is to bridge the wage gap, but it is doing so probably in the most sexist way possible. As a man I am only okay with this because of the greater point it makes.
Secondly, the store defines people based on their gender. Men who have nothing to do with the wage gap or are working difficult blue collar jobs (some of which have overwhelmingly low numbers of women) still get treated like a sleazy executive who reaps the benefits of income equality. That isn’t okay at all, but because these men don’t have to shop at this particular store. Again, the point of the store isn’t to be fair, but rather to create a sense of compassion between men and women.
Thirdly, if a man really wants to shop at this store, he can easily get a girlfriend, wife, friend, or anyone to go through checkout for him. Giving such a big discount because of gender seems so arbitrary from a business perspective. The model itself has a lot of loopholes, but the purpose of this store is to make the point that women make less than men by doing so in an aggressive and noble way.
I would never shop here because I think that its very sexist and offensive because it deduces people to their genders (which is supposed to be a spectrum, come on people) and doesn’t necessarily do anything to benefit women except help them save money or feel a little better about having an advantage for once. The overall concept, however, is noble and I’ll respect it until there’s more coverage on the wage gap issue. I hope that concept behind stores like these or any other movement doesn’t turn into a “screw men” mentality, but in stead sticks to this sort of rhetorical model because that is what may create change.
I think the shop is a cute idea–mainly the “only sells products made by independent women artists.” But I feel like that the 76% to 100% pricing is kind of a gimmick; something to attract buyers that agree with it’s “message” or just something to get it in the news. The bottom line is, if the founder actually cared about equal pay, they would probably be doing something even a little bit more productive about it.
For one, it completely ignores the fact that women of color are paid less than 76 cents to a man’s dollar, which is essentially the demographic of women that’s keeping the difference in pay so extreme. For another, very few people learn a lesson about offensive or harmful institutionalized and internalized behaviors by getting a taste of their own medicine. Especially at a shop that sells whatever non-important or not widely popular things this shop is going to be selling. It’s more likely that a man goes out of his way to hate on the shop than he stumbles by it, sees something he’s absolutely in love with, and is floored when he goes to pay for it. Finally, even if everything miraculously goes right, what is a single arbitrary man going to do with his new-found knowledge if he’s a waiter or cubicle employee somewhere with no hiring power? Even if he does have hiring power, he doesn’t pay people. The owner of this shop is clearly holding singular men responsible for pay gaps as opposed to those who are responsible.
So: there’s something to be said about raising awareness, but you should never try to raise awareness for something by accusing innocent parties of wrongdoing.
To the first question, I think that the wage gap has last this long simply because our world is still patriarchal and male dominated. Men are not going to try to change a problem that isn’t directly affecting them. Which is why I can understand the idea behind this store that charges women less than men. But at the same time, I do not think this store is the answer or is going to solve any problems. While it is an active approach to shed light on this wage gap, it’s fighting fire with fire. It’s going to breed more distaste for the feminist movement, and make it seem like we want to inhibit men as women have been inhibited. It isn’t fair that women suffer when it comes to their paychecks, but the answer isn’t to try and make men suffer in the same ways. I think that the feminist movement needs to remain in a positive light if it’s going to be effective and this store seems like a negative approach to that.
There’s a hilarious video on the subject. Along with this store, the video is a drastic way to make a statement about the wage gap. I think the store is an effective way to boldly bring the wage gap into view. The wage gap is absolutely ridiculous when men and women are doing the same job.
Sure it’s not great that men pay more in the store, but that’s a reality that many women face at their place of work. While some think the store to be out of line, I think it makes a perfectly clear message in a harmless way. Also, men can choose to not shop there while women don’t have the choice of how much they’re paid. Unfortunately, there are imperfect parts of the store as mentioned above but sometimes, in order to get a message across, you can’t always be completely politically correct.
I mean, it’s lasted this long, and will probably continue to do so, because there’s loopholes in things like the Equal Pay Act (can it, meninists) that would, theoretically, prevent them from underpaying women. There is zero accountability on this, so it just keeps going. Why it is still being perpetuated, I can’t say. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever for employers to just pay the women less when it would make more sense from their perspective to pay everyone at a really low rate. I dunno.
As a guy who loves stuff like Etsy, feminism, and all that jazz, I think this is a really cool store. Something tells me that there aren’t too many men venturing into this store who are comfortable with the current wage gap. My hunch would be that there would be some guys who would get really defensive about the whole thing and throw a fit, which is a bit sad.
Applying political pressure is one way, I suppose. Though I wouldn’t bank on the Republicans jumping on board with this. You saw how excited they were about equal pay at this year’s State of the Union. I think that smaller scale action would be better. Apply pressure within the workplace. Ensure that people are being paid the same for the same jobs within their business or company. That seems more realistic to me.
First off, I think this idea is a fantastic idea! It really puts things into perspective. When a man sees that a woman has to pay less for an item, it may seem unfair, until they understand why tis is so (because women, technically, do not make as much for the same about of work.
I feel like this type of discrimination has lasted as long as it has just because it’s not a very obvious. You get your paycheck, yay! you have money, and you put it in the bank. It’s not like your friends, who’s a male doesn’t get money either. What people fail to realize is that women make less money. It would be more outrageous if women weren’t paid at all. So just because it is such a subtle way of discrimination I think is why it has been able to continue for so long.
I think in this one store specifically, men will feel discriminated against. However, they can easily go to another store and find a similar product and buy it there. I think that this movement needs to cross multiple stores, with multiple products in order for men (especially male lawmakers) to understand how the female dollar is compared to theirs.
I think this store definitely makes a statement, but I see it more as an artistic installment than something that can actually be profitable. I would be interested to see some data on the stores’ sale: what percent of its patrons are women/men, and if it’s actually making money. I also wonder what kind of goods it sells. From the pictures, it looks like a lot of hand-crafted, artsy accessories. Everything looks expensive. To be frank, I am not sure that the store would be able to kept alive just based on the things it sells—no one, man or woman, in Pittsburg actually needs a little black wallet pouch (shown on table in one of the pictures).
So while 76>100 is a great concept, idea, and statement, I don’t take it too seriously. I applaud the artist who had enough motivation and inspiration to found the shop, however, from a pragmatic standpoint, I don’t see it taking off in any way besides in ideology.