Youngest Daughter noticed the “Now Hiring” signs outside a local construction business.

“Mom,” she asked, “ I wonder if they’ve got girls’ work or if it’s just work work.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“You know, girls usually do office things inside. Guys are the ones building the houses.”

Tell that to another builder in town, whose daughter functions as a lead foreman and could manage building anything from a birdhouse to a million dollar lake home.

Tell that to the bricklayer’s daughter who works for her father, laying foundations for homes, who built the base for my own home. She worked, as the saying goes, “just like a man.”

Tell that to the female students in welding, electrical, and automotive classes at local career and technical schools. Tell that to the Women Who Weld, a non-profit group located in Detroit, Michigan whose mission is to teach women to weld and find employment, thereby creating more economic opportunities and diversifying the workforce. 

Tell that to all those women in World War II:

• The Rosie the Riveters who built bombers, transports, and fighter planes.
• The Wendy the Welders who welded and assembled steel plates, constructing Liberty ships, destroyers, aircraft carriers, and battleships.
• The Government Girls, who filled administrative positions previously held by men, but whose work qualified more as stereotypical “women’s work.” They were expected to wear skirts and lipstick and keep their hair styled. During the rationing of nylon, these women used “liquid stockings” to create the impression of wearing nylon. Cutting edge technology, and probably not a far cry from self-tanner. I hope it didn’t give them cancer.

(Come to think of it, there are an awful lot of beauty products out there linked to cancer risks and other diseases, but I will save that nugget for another time.)

When the war was over, most of these women found themselves out of work, as their jobs were given to the returning soldiers. Those who remained made less money than the men.

Oh, but that was 1945. That was a lifetime ago. Things are different now.

Really?

Yesterday was Equal Pay Day. March 25, 2025 is the date calculated to be the point where women’s earnings would catch up to what men earned in the previous year. To celebrate, the entire Senate Democratic Caucus reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by ending the practice of pay secrecy and providing more avenues for wronged employees to challenge pay discrimination. First introduced in 1997 and reintroduced in every Congress since, it has still not become the law of the land.

I’m not sure how I’m going to celebrate Equal Pay Day. I’m already a day late and a dollar short, most likely literally, if I compare what I’ve made over the years to a man with the same work responsibilities and educational background.

A side note from my past: some years ago I had taken out some money from a retirement fund to earn my Educational Specialist degree. The same month, I learned I was pregnant with my second child. I was already working 60-hour-plus weeks, volunteering at my church, and raising a four-year-old daughter. I decided to forego the additional degree and focus on my family and current work responsibilities. My husband (at the time) used the money to go to school and earn an associate’s degree in an attempt to start a new career.

How many times has a similar scenario played out in other households?

You might say that it’s my own fault. I could have managed the classes, the workload, the pregnancy. I would have found a way. I always do. Or I should have immediately returned the money to the retirement account and told my husband “no.”

I’ve beaten myself up somewhat over the years for how that whole thing played out. I’ve never earned my Ed.S., but I’ve got an honorary doctorate in life lessons.

As hindsight is 20/20, I can offer some advice to future generations. This goes for both women and men, since we are celebrating being “equal”:

• Hold your ground. You are more than worth it. Don’t lowball yourself. If you don’t ask for higher pay and negotiate better salaries, no one else will do it for you.
• It’s okay to speak up. It’s okay to be assertive. It’s okay to say no.
• Balance is a lie. I’m closer than ever before to having a nice work-life balance, but if I had to be honest, there are times when you’ve got to devote more time to one thing or another, or else you’ll lose your job or your marriage or your good humor. Don’t let it drive you crazy. It’s just the way things are.

And the best advice of all? Please listen, Youngest Daughter.

There is no such thing as women’s work. It is all work work. 

Changing that belief would be the biggest gap we could ever overcome.