Jill Biden Reveals Pay Inequality In Her First Teaching Job

Dr. Jill Biden has revealed that there was a time when she faced discrimination based on her gender. She got unequal pay compared to her male colleagues while working as a full-time teacher.

The First Lady of the US shared her personal story during a White House event to promote Equal Pay Day, reported Elle. Recalling the day when she got her first teaching job, she said she was thrilled.

"After years of getting my degree and substitute-teaching, I was finally going to be able to start the career I had been dreaming about. And then I found out that they were paying me only 75 percent of what they were paying the man who was hired at the same time. I couldn’t believe it," she said.

For her, it "wasn’t just the money...though that was unfair. It was the lack of respect—the discrimination."

"Why was my work worth less? We were working the same hours, teaching the same number of students, and had similar experience," she added.

Jill experienced this discrimination in 1975. Even though so many years have gone by, she feels that today, there are still women who are in the exact same position.

"This is personal to me, because it’s personal to all women. It’s one example of how we still treat women differently than men. It’s wrong. And as this pandemic widens the income and wealth gap between men and women, it’s urgent," she added.

For her, teaching isn’t just a job, "it’s a part of who I am. That’s why, when I became First Lady -- the honor of a lifetime -- I also knew I had to do it while holding on to this piece of myself. I had to keep teaching."

Irrespective of a person's gender, she believes that "equal work deserves equal pay, no matter who does it."

Earlier this month, she visited a New Jersey elementary school classroom where only two students were learning in-person and 17 were taking classes virtually amidst the pandemic, reported Fox News.

"Hello, nice to see all of you. I’m a teacher too but I teach English. Tomorrow I will be doing the exact same thing with my students," she said at Samuel Smith Elementary School in Burlington.

"I'm here to tell you with the American Rescue Plan, help is here," she said during a press conference outside of the school.

Addressing the educators, she said, "Even with your best efforts, students can't come -- they can't come in every day, which means that their parents are still having to take time off work or figure out child care solutions."

"And this school, like schools across the country, can't fully reopen without help. We're going to open schools and we're going to do it safely," she added.