His Daughter Has No Idea What She Does For The Women In The Office
What if there were a magical water that could wash away pay inequality for women? Well, someone invented one ... kinda.
It's a fake product called "Daughter Water," a refreshing beverage designed to help male CEOs conceive baby girls.
Sound weird? Just check this out:
<span class="redactor-invisible-space"></span>Why should we want male CEOs to have daughters? Because when they do, it tends to reduce the gender pay gap.
While this commercial had me LOLing all the way through, it's obviously not real. But it does actually highlight a real phenomenon that happens when male CEOs raise daughters. The fact is that even after the #LillyLedbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law six years ago, pay inequality is still out of control, with women making 77 cents for every $1 an equally qualified man doing the same job makes on average. Men and women are still not being paid the same — for doing the exact same work.
FACT CHECK TIME:
It's true that male CEOs having daughters tends to reduce the gender pay gap. But obviously the idea that a bottled water can do that is ridiculous (and totally made up).
As of January 2015, women are paid about 77 cents for every dollar a man makes in the U.S. That figure has hardly changed in about a decade.
Gender pay inequality is an international problem. (The folks who made this video are from Australia.) In the U.S., women experience it in all states. Washington, D.C., is at the top of the pay equity scale (paying women 91% of what men earn) and Louisiana is at the bottom (paying women 66%).
Educated women are not exempt. Basically, if you're a woman fresh out of college working full time, a study found that you'll only earn 82% of what guys in the same demographic are paid.
If you're a woman who's been in the game for a while, that's actually a disadvantage. Paychecks for women over 35 are, on average, about 75% of men's.
If you're a woman of color, it's even worse. Black women were paid 64% of what white men doing the same job were paid, while Latina women only received 54%.
It doesn't matter if you're a doctor, a lawyer, or a school teacher. No matter if your occupation is female- or male-dominated, women are very often paid less.
All of this sucks, right? So what can we do about it?
Get involved with groups like The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), which launched a campaign to educate folks about how the gender pay gap affects work environments and how to combat it.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."