Wake Up Yourself John Legend: Where are the women workers?

Wake Up Everybody is a great song but NOT a great video.

Since I recently watched and fell in love with Waiting for "Superman," I heard and fell in love with John Legend's song in the movie as well.

But, upon watching the music video, I have changed my mind a bit.

The  lyrics call out for help over and over:

Wake up everybody
No more sleepin' in bed
...Time for thinkin' ahead

...There is so much hatred
War and poverty, whoa, oh

...The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me

...Wake up, all the builders
Time to build a new land
I know we can do it
If we all lend a hand

....The world won't get no better
If we just let it be, na, na, na
The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me

...Wake up, everybody
Need a little help, y'all
Yes I do, need a little help

Need a little help, y'all

Need a little help y'all

Wake up everybody
Wake up everybody

Again, lyrically, it is a beautiful song. 

The problem, however, came in the music video: Watch the final bit of the video, starting from 3:50 where they call out that they "need a little help y'all." 

It seems that he is only referring to the male workers when he says "y'all;" the following MEN are all presented in the last minute or so of the song: 

• doctor (with a female patient in the background)
• cop
• a man in a suit - perhaps a teacher or a lawyer?
• cab driver
• construction workers 

The ONE AND ONLY WOMAN is presented in that same group of images... with her three kids. Disclaimer: I am not at all belittling mothers... I want very much to be one when I am older. 

However, I am belittling this video. Women can be more than mothers.

If John Legend really wants the world to change then he should engage the other half of the population. 

The sad thing is that his version of "Wake Up Everybody" is not original. 

It is a remake of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes title track from 1975!?! It has been 35 years since that song was originally released!?!

And there is still "so much hatred, war and poverty." 

We need to wake up EVERYbody.... men and women. 

The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me

...Wake up, all the builders
Time to build a new land
I know we can do it
If we all lend a hand

My New Crush

I have a new crush.

I just met him last night.

He is passionate, intelligent, and great with words.

A friend of mine introduced us... via YouTube. ;)

Ok, so I'm not holding my breath for a date with him any time soon but a girl can dream, right? ;) 

Y'all can meet him too... and fall in love with his poems (inspiring, energizing slam poetry style... not sappy stuff) because he is that great. Seriously, I hope y'all check him out.

His name is Rafael Casal and he is a def poet. 

The first video of his that I ever watched (thanks Lindsey!) is called Barbie and Ken 101. It has to do with media's misrepresentation of women which has been my interest lately with my Capstone focus. It is so great to hear a guy speak out against this :)

This one is called My Miller Chill and it is also about marketing. He has some really great lines by the end so watch it all the way through...

This one is my FAVORITE!!! It is called A.D.D. and seems a bit random at first but ties in. There are some crazy statistics and an incredibly wonderful final line.

And if you haven't been bitten by the lovebug yet after watching his fantastic videos, that is fine by me... I'll have less competition for that first date of ours...  ;)

Awesome Local Non-Profit

The Center for Women is almost 20 years old and doing great things for women in the local area. Four fantastic women work there. They are a pro-active non-profit assisting women to achieve personal and professional success. They do this through a number of ways including several events such as a writers forum and purse auction. Check out their other events. Support this great organization!

Wake Up and Smell the Wage Gap

The Wage Gap. Please tell me you know what I’m talking about. AND, please tell me you are pissed off.

The Wage Gap is the difference in what women and men make for the same work. I.e. it is not just that more men are engineers and more women are secretaries – another blog post altogether. It is talking about a male professional and a female one, within the same field and position, making entirely different salaries.

For example, my Public Relations textbook Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics updated just this year for the 9th edition shows (on page 32) that with experience of more than five years, men make an average of $124,000 while women make $85,000 doing the SAME thing!?! Sucks since this is what I want to go into :(

But it is not just PR that has this problem. Across the board, women make 77 cents to every man’s dollar. This is not right. I have spoken to some of my friends that say, oh well that is not too bad, right.

Wrong.

Nerd that I am, I like to explain this using a school analogy. Hopefully this will help paint the picture of how incredibly unfair this wage gap is. Let’s say you are in a class and your teacher returns your tests. For the exact same answers and content on that test, the teacher decides to give the boys in the class a 100 while all the girls can get – at best – a 77. Um, hello, an A verses a C. That is NOT fair!!!

In fact it is sad. I have a twin brother and we are both to graduate in May 2011. He will make more money that me because he is a boy – and because he is an engineering major but… different blog post again ;)

What truly is sad is that, in my textbook Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives also updated for the 5th edition this year, page 310 states that the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 to ensure that women would receive equal pay for equal work. At the time, women were earning 59 cents for every man’s dollar.

Do the math: 46 years and we have gained 18 cents. That is .39 of a penny we have gained each year. Aren’t we worth more than that? Minority women make noticeably less that this.

Fortunately, President Obama has noticed. His first bill signed into law this January was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to try to once and for all bring about equal pay for equal work. Hopefully this will help.

Until then, wake up and smell the wage gap. And do something about it! Even if it is just to talk to your friends or ask for a raise or write to your representative. YOU DESERVE IT!!!