In The Cost of Being Girl, writer Yasemin Besen-Cassino explore the ongoing debate of gender wage gap in the U.S., which was and still is attributed to by many scholarly researchers to things such as maternity leave and more women working part-time rather than full in order to take care of their children. However, Yasemin eruditely points out the errors in these studies, that being they all focus on adults and not the tween/teen cohort where employment begins (namely at 12 years of age). To verify her point, Yasemin gathers the meager studies conducted on that age demographic along with her own interviews with and surveys on female young adults (since she could not do so with minors), much of whom started out their first careers as babysitters dissuaded from asking for a higher salary out of fear of being perceived as 'greedy' or 'insincere' about their jobs, a problem the opposite sex doesn't face nearly as often. As a result, this stigmatic fear continues throughout adulthood. Furthermore, the author shows the socioeconomic and ethnic nuances in the unequal treatment of females which prove again, while we have come a long way from the past decades, we still have a muddy path to clean before we overcome our intrinsic sexism and prejudiced notions in what should be a more Progressive America.
Overall, this book is an insightful eye-opener on an issue many of us are misled to believe is nearly eradicated. I highly suggest it to any person who wants a deeper understanding of the complexities of the gender gap.
