Originally Posted by
Belfast Telegraph
Beyonce has written an essay about gender equality - calling on men to demand their wives, mothers and sisters are paid fairly.
The Run The World singer has published her essay - titled Gender Equality Is a Myth! - on The Shriver Report, a media initiative led by journalist and former California first lady Maria Shriver.
Beyonce 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 US workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 per cent 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 per cent of the population and more than 50 per cent of voters. We must demand that we all receive 100 per cent of the opportunities."
The singer's essay is part of the 2014 special report, A Woman's Nation Pushes Back From The Brink, which can be downloaded for free until January 15 at shriverreport.org.
And Beyonce isn't the only celebrity contributor.
Eva Longoria's essay, Empowering Latinas, encourages educational opportunities for Latina women.
Jennifer Garner's contribution is titled Turning Poverty Around: Training Parents to Help Their Kids and Jada Pinkett Smith has written an essay about human trafficking - Human Trafficking and Slavery in the United States: You Don't See the Chains.
Miami Heat star LeBron James has also joined the campaign, writing America's Working Single Mothers: An Appreciation.
The celebrity essays appear alongside works by experts and public figures such as Hillary Clinton.
Is Gender Equality a Myth?
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