Women and Gender Studies: Process Paper on Collaboration Project

Daquille Barzey-Ferguson
Mary Ellen Schmider
Introduction to Women's Studies: Process Paper on Collaboration Project
12/01/2014

I want to start off by saying that WMST 200 was a very great course and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was a very beneficial learning experience and I have taken away so much from it. Our professor Mary Ellen Schmider was extremely helpful and her assignments were always knowledgeable and rewarding. They really opened my mind to seeing the world through a woman’s perspective. This course educated me on the aspects of the modern day woman and some of the struggles they still face. I would highly recommend this to course to people that I know. One thing in particular that challenged and was kind of new to me was the Collaboration project. It promoted classmate interaction and teamwork, which are great factors to have.
This assignment was a great way to interact with our fellow classmates. Reflecting back on this courses collaborative project it was quite rewarding. At first I was a little worried about working with people I do not really know through the computer. How we are supposed come together and complete this assignment, but it turned out for the better. At first there was a little confusion as to what were our particular roles of the assignment but through outstanding teamwork we prevailed. It was a good learning experience. Our group consisted of five outstanding counterparts, Hope Gibbs, Kevin Corbin, Jessica Wainwright, Shara Kenner and myself, Daquille Barzey-Ferguson. We made an outstanding team and all members put fourth equal effort. I am glad that I was paired up with these outstanding and hardworking individuals. We made an awesome team and never ran into any problems with our work.
At first many ideas were being thrown around and it was our job as a group to decipher which one would best suite the projects criteria and give us a better overall grade. We started off by brainstorming ideas such as "advertisement for children (boys v girls)", "Movies currently high in the box office sales, what roles do the women have" and many other great ideas. One idea we first decided to go with was “Women in the Media”. Doing a break down of Beyoncé’s song “Who runs the world”. We ended up going with “Closing the Gender Gap: Equal Pay for Equal Work” and thought if we could incorporate the song break down we would. I feel like this was a very good choice to go with. It allowed us to do some extensive research and expand and broaden our mindset on this issue.
Communication was one key factor to successfully completing this assignment. Without it there would be no way to accomplish the task at hand. We kept contact through the courses group discussions and personal emails. This was where each individual input their strong points and how they could be beneficial to the assignment. Everyone had a key role in completing this project and the final product came out pretty decent if I do say so my self.
Our power point presentation consisted of seven informative slides and one reference slide. Full with insightful information, attention gaining photos and supporting graphs. The first slide was the cover slide with the title, an eye-capturing photo and the participant’s names on it. The next slide stated some facts about the un-fair pay scale. Stating how women make less then men and that for female minorities it is even worse. This is a major ongoing problem and needs to be dealt with.
The third slide went into detail on an act signed by President Obama stating that are to be paid equally for the same job. Even though this happen the problem still occurs. This slide also talked about the Lilly Ledbetter vs. Goodyear case. She was paid less than the men she worked with for many years, and who performed the same job as she. Her suit worked its way all the way to the Supreme Court and she was eventually awarded 3 million dollars but didn’t receive it because the ruling was overturned. She played an important role in history and paved the way for women and men who perform the exact duties but are not compensated equally for it.
On the fourth slide it gives a brief detail of The Lilly Ledbetter Pay Act. This act allows employees to assess the validity of their claims, promotes voluntary compliance by employers- prevented employers from hiding discrimination and Responds to the workplace realities- ensures that employees are not penalized for filing claims against employers. On this slide is also one of Lilly Ledbetter`s humorous quotes “Giving women my Lilly Ledbetter Pay Act without the paycheck fairness act is like giving them a nail without the hammer.” This quote pretty much sums up the entire situation at hand. You can’t give one without the other and expect an effective outcome.
The next two slides contain supporting charts and graphs. These charts and graphs show the highlights of women`s earning and women`s earnings as a percent of men`s, full-time wage and salary workers, by state, 2012 annual averages. If you review them closely, you can see how the pay differentiates between men and women for the same work. Even more so when you break it down into minorities, age, education and marital status. It is shocking how things like this play a such huge part when it comes to getting paid equally for doing the same work.
The last slide is the conclusion slide followed by the reference slide. The conclusion slide summed up the whole entire presentation. Women have to put up with work place discrimination on a daily basis. With all of the contributions they make, equal payment should for equal work should be a given not something that should be fought for or earned. We as a people need to see each other as equals in order to evolve in this crazy world. We need to start seeing each other as people and not be race or gender. Doing this will truly make us all equal.
After the completion of this project we as a team felt very successful and content. It was a job well done by all of us. We came together as one and worked very hard to produce an outstanding collaboration project. It was a pleasure working with such a great team and I hope they feel that same way as I do. I hope that it meets the standards that you require. It was an honor working on this project mainly because of the useful and though changing information I have encountered. I would gladly take on an assignment like this in the future.