BOSTON, Oct 25: For many people from other countries, the United States of America is a land of opportunity and equality. However, the election agendas for the presidential race here speak otherwise. Equal wages has been one of the major issues being discussed by the candidates in the US election to be held on November 8.
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Secretary Hillary Clinton, who is running in the presidential race against Republican candidate and celebrity businessman Donald Trump, has been raising the issue of equal wages for women. According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, US women make 20 percent less on average than US men.
According to Dr Gregory Payne, chief of the communications department at Emerson College in Boston, the problem of unequal pay is striking in the manufacturing industries because of the absence of unions.
Understanding this fact, the Clinton campaign has been raising the issue and promising equal pay if she is elected president.
"We are going to get the economy working for everybody, not just for those at the top," said Clinton on Monday, addressing a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire.
"We believe that workers should be able to organize for better pay. Unions will rebuild America," added Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat senator addressing the same rally.
The Clinton campaign has been raising the issues of equal pay for women, raising the minimum wage and expanding social security.
"To me, as a young American, the fact of unequal wages is an absolute disgrace. I was very happy to hear Clinton talking about equal wages for women in the US during the rally in Manchester," said Kayle Neill, a student of political communication at Emerson.
"The US projects values of equality and freedom all over the world, yet has not leveled its own divides at home. Beyond gender pay inequality there are large gaps in income along racial lines. On average, black families have one-tenth of the net worth of white families.
America has much to do before she can wrap herself in the cloak of equality," he concluded.
