Because of Sexism, I Earn Half

While I'm in a bathroom stall, I overhear one of the new hires standing at the sink sharing some good news with his family excitedly.

"I've passed probation. My salary is 12,000 dollars a month!"

I sat there, swallowed by a heavy, resentful silence.

I've been with this company for six years.

In my first year, my salary is 6,000 dollars, and I didn't get a raise. In my second year, it's still 6,000 dollars. At the end of the year, I get a 5% raise, which is an extra 300 dollars. In my third, fourth, and fifth years, my salary stays exactly the same at 6,300 dollars.

Currently, I'm in my sixth year. HR talks to me today and tells me that next year, I'll receive another 5% raise, bringing my salary to 6,615 dollars.

At this point, I'm responsible for coordinating five separate projects. Because the workload is too much, the company hires three new employees for me to train.

The newest one has just passed probation, and his salary is 12,000 dollars.

It is nearly double of what I make after six years of working for this company.

I walk out of the restroom and head straight for the HR office to submit my resignation.

The HR manager is stunned as she asks, "Why?"

I reply, "Because the pay sucks, and I'm tired of being miserable."

After hearing that, Harper Sullivan was stumped for half a minute before she said, "Don't do anything rash, Sophia."

"I'm not being rash," I responded. "I should've said this six years ago."

From graduation up until that point, I had worked at the company for a full six years.

In those six years, I had gone from a lowly intern to managing the coordination of five major projects. Company operations, client collaborations—there wasn't a single link in the chain that could function without me. In fact, to help me perform even better, my boss had hired three interns at the start of the year specifically to assist me.

Yet, what had my dedication gotten me? In six years, my base salary had only gone from 6,000 to 6,615 dollars. Meanwhile, the male intern who had just transitioned to a permanent role was making a base salary of 12,000 dollars.

"I don't want to drag this out, Harper. I'd appreciate it if you could fast-track my resignation process."

Harper's expression soured. "But you're handling five major projects right now, Sophia. Don't you think you're hitting below the belt by quitting right now?"

"Oh, I'm hitting below the belt?" I sneered.

When I first joined, this company could barely even be called a studio. The boss and the employees altogether added up to fewer than ten people and were all crammed into a small 215-square-foot room. There was no air conditioning in the summer, no heating in the winter, and we had to work unpaid overtime every single day.

However, I endured all of it.

Relying entirely on the raw passion of someone fresh out of school, I stubbornly stuck it out, helping the company grow from a shabby little factory on the brink of bankruptcy to a business that could afford to rent four floors of an office building. Yet, it was only today that I learned a newly converted intern's salary was twice mine.

"Harper, do you know how much I make a month? 6,615 dollars. For that measly sum, I work an average of three hours overtime every day and revise proposals late into the night. Even when I'm traveling back to my hometown for the New Year, if the company calls, I have to edit proposals right there on the train.

"Meanwhile, the male intern who just became a permanent employee today has been with the company for three months. He clocks in right on time and leaves right on the dot. Last week, he even got a meeting time wrong, and the heads of five departments all came to me to complain. And yet, his monthly base salary is 12,000 dollars!

"Harper, are you seriously talking to me about fairness right now?"

Harper went silent for what felt like an eternity before she ultimately muttered, "Look, at the end of the day, you're a woman. What do you expect?"

"Excuse me?" I stared at her, unable to believe my ears.

Harper pursed her lips and sighed. "I thought you knew how the world works, Sophia. You're a woman, and you're already 28 this year. You're at the age where you'll be getting married and having kids soon. Between wedding leave, maternity leave, and nursing leave, you'll be out of commission for almost a whole year.

"Besides, research online shows that a woman's mental capacity declines after marriage. The boss is worried you won't be able to balance career and family when the time comes, so… you should see things from the company's financial standpoint."