To raise awareness for Equal Pay Day, Keene State College’s Feminist Collective sold cupcakes on Tuesday, April 9, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the L.P. Young Student Center. The cupcakes were sold to women for 75 cents, and to men for a dollar to represent the inequality in pay between sexes.
Abby Milonas, KSC freshman and member of the Feminist Collective, said she heard the cupcake sale was creating buzz on the KSC campus.
“It’s going pretty well today, and I think a lot of people are talking about it,” Milonas said, “We’ve gotten lot of different reactions. Most of the women who we’ve seen today are excited about this because it’s such an important issue.”
Many students came to purchase a cupcake and see what the event was all about.
Sophomore Lauren Smyth said she first arrived at the Feminist Collective’s table set up in the student center when she saw cupcakes, but was particularly intrigued by the event’s message.
“I think this is something really important in today’s society that needs to be talked about more,” Smyth said, “It’s just unfair that women make a significantly less amount of money than men when they’re doing the same job. That doesn’t make sense.”
Smyth continued, “Same goes for the idea of me paying less than a man to buy the same cupcake. We should all be treated equal.”
The wage gap in the U.S. is 77 cents to every dollar that a man makes, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. However, the members of Feminist Collective members said they decided it was more efficient to sell the cupcakes for 75 cents to raise awareness.
“The actual wage gap is seventy-seven cents, but just to keep the whole process going smoothly today, we made the cupcakes seventy-five cents,” Milonas said, “It’s still having the same effect on people.”
Brett Lago, junior, stumbled upon the Equal Pay Day event when he was on his way to class.
“I was on my way to class, but then I saw this event that seemed really interesting,” Lago continued, “I’m going to be a senior next year and it’s just crazy to hear about how unequal wages are going to be when I finally graduate and get out into the real world. It seems really unfair.”
The Feminist Collective members said the idea was to let KSC students feel the actual impact of the wage gap’s unfairness. This event was intended to affect both men and women, according to the group.
Milonas said, “Some men have been really understanding of this idea, but we’ve seen a lot of others today that are treating it like it’s a myth or just another reason for women to complain.” Milonas continued, “It’s such a real issue and we’re hoping to let everyone know first how real it is and also that something needs to be done.”
Most students said they were very supportive of the Feminist Collective’s message.
“I didn’t really know a lot about this before today,” Lago said, “I think in order to fix this, people should really start educating themselves on how serious it is.”
“It’s all about learning about something before you feel like you can actually talk about it,” Smyth said, “I’m glad that this event is happening so people can become more aware of this issue.”
Smyth continued, “Who doesn’t like cupcakes? For seventy-five cents or a dollar, it’s still a way to connect people together.”
Stephanie McCann can be contacted at smccann@keene-equinox.com