By Uche Onyebadi
WOMEN in America have recorded phenomenal achievements and left indelible marks in U.S. history. Take a look at the U.S. Supreme Court. There, three women sit on the bench with six men. This is a statement that women have paid their dues so to speak alongside men in this country that consistently boasts of equal opportunity based on ability, and uses every chance it gets to preach the same message to the rest of the world.

But, just looking at the U.S. Supreme Court will not tell the full story of women and their quest to be recognized and accorded their rightful place in the U.S. For instance, it wasn’t until 1981 that the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, became the U.S. Supreme Court judge, despite the fact that women had long before then earned the right to sit on this throne of justice.

Some America women in Lagos 

Over the years, women in America have struggled to hold their heads high in the country. In spite of what the rest of the world has been made to believe, all is not rosy with American women. A number of man-made road-blocks have been placed on their way to success. Is it not a marvel that prior to 1920 women in America did not have the constitutional right to vote at elections in the great democracy in our world?

If you say that 1920 is a long way in the past, how about something more modern? Startling as it may sound, the reality in modern U.S. is that overall, women and men do not earn equal pay for the same work done. All available statistics point to the reality that for every one dollar earned by men, women get seventy-seven cents.

The situation is even worse than it looks because, according to a White House website, 51 percent of women in the U.S. workforce say that in their offices they are discouraged from discussing matters that relate to their wages. In other words, they are encouraged to take what they get and simply shut up.

This unwritten rule against discussing their wages and being placed as second-hand citizens in the workforce was what led a lady, Lilly Ledbetter, to challenge a system that underpaid her for equal work done with her male counterparts before her retirement from the Goodyear tire plant in Alabama. She was a supervisor at the plant.

Her suit went nowhere, as the Supreme Court ruled that it had become time barred. All attempts to redress the situation through the legislative process were unsuccessful, as Republican law-makers scuttled every move to make women earn equal pay for equal work. However, things changed in 2009 when Senator Barbara Mikulski introduced a bill in the senate to change this awkward situation in democratic America. Fortunately, her bill passed. The House of Representatives also passed the bill and President Barack Obama had the historic fortune of signing the bill into law in 2009, the first bill he ever signed in his presidency.

But, law and reality are not necessarily the same thing. Women in America continue to be discriminated against even in pay. This reality was once again brought home in a statement made last week by, of all people, the CEO of Microsoft, Mr. Satya Nadella. The irony is that Nadella’s surprise statement was made in the course of his invitation to discuss the “celebration of women in computing.”

He had said all nice things about this topic, when he made this disconcerting declaration about women and equal pay: “It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along…..Because that’s good karma. It’ll come back because somebody’s going to know that’s the kind of person that I want to trust.”

Good natured person

Put simply, Nadella was advising hard-working women not to bother asking for a raise in their offices, even if they thought they should, because somehow and someday in future, a good-natured person would recognize their good work and reward them accordingly. That is what good karma is all about: keep doing good and working hard because someday something good will come your way.

CEO Nadella has since taken back those words in the face of massive outrage across the nation.  He admitted that he was most inarticulate in his response about women and equal-pay karma. He wrote: “I answered that question completely wrong. Without a doubt, I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work.”

Good talk, but the genie had escaped from the bottle. Even if you give Nadella the benefit of the doubt, his initial statement still gives credence to the prevailing situation of unequal pay for equal work. In fact, male dominance of the workforce is still a thriving phenomenon in the U.S. Here is how Charlotte Alter of Time Magazine responded to Nadella’s statement: “Microsoft’s leadership is only 17.3% female.”  Then she reminded her readers that “women make up less than 30% of the entire company as a whole.” These are shades of uncomfortable truth.

This discrimination against women shows its face in other ways. Think about this: Michelle Obama is a lawyer by training, practice and experience before she became the first lady of the U.S. But, should she make any comment about a contemporary issue in her country, you are likely to see an avalanche of tirades from men, and surprisingly from some women, that she should just keep off politics and play the role of chief hostess at the White House. The fact that she was already practicing law before Barack Obama came along might not matter at all. Michelle should just be another piece of ornament at the White House.