Beyoncé Pens an Essay on Gender Equality

Beyoncé wrote an essay titled "Gender Equality Is a Myth!" for the new installment of Maria Shriver's Shriver Report, a study that the journalist publishes alongside the Center for American Progress.

Beyoncé makes the case for gender equality in America through equal pay in the workforce, but she does so by suggesting men play an equal part in demanding it. She writes:

We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn't a reality yet. Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes. But unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change. Men have to demand that their wives, daughters, mothers and sisters earn more—commensurate with their qualifications and not their gender. Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect.

Humanity requires both men and women, and we are equally important and need one another. So why are we viewed as less than equal? These old attitudes are drilled into us from the very beginning. We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible.

We have a lot of work to do, but we can get there if we work together. Women are more than 50 percent of the population and more than 50 percent of the voters. We must demand that we all receive 100 percent of the opportunities. 

While feminists and womanists, black and white, continue to debate whether the superstar can lay claim to the movements, it is certainly remarkable that woman so publicly visible has embrace the movement.

Related:

'Black Folk Don't' Explores the Long Legacy of Black Feminism
Beyonce Talks Feminism and Imperfection in "Self Titled" Part 2
"Feminist" Does Not Apply: On Conferring Labels Without Consent

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Kimberly Foster is the founder and editor of For Harriet. Email or Follow @KimberlyNFoster