Jack White gave a speech on gender equality, drawing on his own career and experience in music business
July 14, 2016
Nashville’s most famous rocker — the former White Stripes musician Jack White — has been appointed to a 45-member local council in Nashville, focusing on gender equity in the city. White gave a speech about gender equality in Nashville this past Wednesday, July 13. You can read his entire speech in full on Facebook (see below).
White opened his speech by saying, “All human beings on this planet, and in this society that we live in deserve to be treated the same. They deserve to be treated the same in their social lives, and in their financial and business careers as well.”
The singer made a lot of references to his own career path to examplify inequality in wages: “In my life in the arts, I have always considered it unfair when producing a record, for example, that a drummer would be paid less than a singer, simply because that singer had an agent or representative. They are both creating regardless of their instrument or even their experience. They should be paid the same. Now wouldn’t it be just as ridiculous to pay two fiddle players a different wage because one of them is male and one is female? I think so.”
To illustrate his own contribution to gender equality in business, White also drew on his experience of running a record label Third Man Records: “I am proud to say that since 2013 all employees of my record label have had a minimum wage of 15 dollars an hour, regardless of gender.”
“I encourage small businesses to do the same, it is possible. You won’t go broke. A person shouldn’t need two jobs just to have food and shelter. And if small businesses like mine can do this, billion dollar businesses like Walmart can do it as well,” the musician went on.
“Something that we are even more proud of at Third Man Records is that since 2015, all employees that are expecting mothers, can expect 6 months of paid leave after giving birth. All fathers of newborn children at third man records can expect 3 months of paid leave. Nothing is more important than a new life and new soul being brought into the world, and newborn parents should not have to worry about anything but the health and welfare of their child.”
“If my small company can enact these ideas, then so can McDonald’s and General Motors.”
White concluded by stressing: “If a person is born into a different scenario or a different type of physical body, they shouldn’t be treated in any degrading fashion. If they choose to represent themselves as transgender or gender neutral even, it should not effect their wages or benefits or how they are treated by other human beings.”
What do you think of White’s speech and arguments? Share your thoughts in the comments, and join Alterock Facebook and Twitter to stay tuned for rock and metal news.
Thanks to Jack White, musician and business owner, for joining our Council on Gender Equity. @thirdmanrecords pic.twitter.com/rVL8W3Sen0
— Megan Barry (@MayorMeganBarry) July 13, 2016
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