Beyoncé Says "Gender Equality Is A Myth"

Beyonce writes a "Shriver Report" essay about attitudes regarding gender equality, respect and the economy.

Beyonce has written an essay regarding gender equality and other differences between men and women. In a piece written for the annual Shriver Report, Beyonce writes about unequal pay and why she believes "gender equality is a myth."   

"We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality," Beyonce says in the piece, which is titled "Gender Equality Is A Myth." "It isn’t a reality yet. Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent 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...If women received pay equal to their male counterparts, the U.S. economy would produce $447.6 billion in additional income."  

Beyonce's piece says that attitudes about gender are "drilled into us from the very beginning." The singer also says that young men need to be taught about equality and respect. She also says that young women need to learn to "reach as high as humanly possible." 

"We have a lot of work to do, but we can get there if we work together," Beyonce adds. "Women are more than 50 percent of the population and more than 50 percent of voters. We must demand that we all receive 100 percent of the opportunities." 

This excerpt is taken from The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink. 

In September, it was reported that Beyonce and Jay Z combined to make more money than any other celebrity couple with an estimated $95 million in earnings over the the course of a year, according to Forbes. The report measured the earnings of celebrity couples from June 2012 through June 2013. In the report's findings, Beyonce earned $2 million per night for her "Mrs. Carter World Tour" and Jay Z earned $1.4 million a night with his "Watch The Throne Tour" run with Kanye West. The couple has topped the Forbes list of celebrity couples for two consecutive years.