Island School grad wins 2nd place in 2023 Women’s History Essay Contest

The Kaua‘i Committee on the Status of Women is proud to announce Skylar Stewart, a 2023 graduate of Island School, is the second place winner in this year’s Women’s History Essay Contest.

“Ms. Stewart shared about the significant issues of pay inequality for women in the nation, and specifically shared her own family’s experience,” said Kaua‘i Committee on the Status of Women Chairwoman Darcie Yukimura. “Her words are powerful and inspiring as she encourages women to keep fighting for pay equality and hopes that one day future generations will be treated fairly based on education and experience, and not gender.”

Stewart was a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation All-Star and team captain in cross country. She also participated in track and was co-captain of the girls soccer team during her senior year. Stewart has served her community as a high school lifeguard and is an avid runner. She also enjoys traveling, hiking and spending time at the beach with friends.

She plans to attend Colorado State University this fall, where she will major in biology with a pre-med track.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the committee opened the contest from January to March to all Kaua‘i public, private, charter and home-school high school students.

This year’s essay contest theme was “Your silence will not protect you.” It is a famous quote by American civil rights leader Audre Lorde, who dedicated her life to confronting racism, sexism, classism and homophobia through community organizing, writing and teaching.

Entrants were asked to submit a one-page essay answering the question “What is a social justice issue that impacts girls and/or genders non-conforming persons and what are potential solutions?”

Cash prizes were awarded to the top three students, with an additional student named Honorable Mention. This is the second in a four-part series highlighting the students who wrote the winning essays. The remaining three entrants will be featured in subsequent stories.

Stewart’s essay, titled “Stuck in the Past,” is featured below:

Pay inequality for women is a huge problem across the United States of America even though it is now often overlooked. I have lived in Hawai’i, specifically Kaua’i, for over six years, and I have never heard anyone talk about women getting paid less than men. The issue of pay inequality needs to be talked about more because women make 79.4% of what men make in Hawai’i (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020). The fact that men make 1.21 times more than women on average in Hawai’i is outrageous.

My family has had personal experiences with pay inequality. When my mom was working as a researcher in Missouri, she worked in an office with all men, and she assumed she was making the same amount of money as them based on her education and experience. She later found out that a man who started working at the same time as her, with the same qualifications, was making a significantly larger amount of money per year than her. She asked for a raise when she found out about the unequal pay, but the company denied her request. She quit her job to find an organization that valued equality. My dad is also a scientist and he has never experienced unequal pay or suffered pay loss. This pay discrimination was solely based on my mom’s gender, not her professional experience and education. This type of discrimination happens all over Hawai’i and in the United States.

There are activists that have regularly fought for pay equality, but the cause gets less attention than it used to. An example of a famous activist is Lilly Ledbetter who was involved in the Supreme Court trial: Ledbetter vs. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., which she won but received no compensation because of the timing of her filing. She has a Fair Pay Act in her name, which was signed into law by Barack Obama in 2009, to help remedy the issue of pay inequality. She got paid an ungodly amount less than her male co-workers at Goodyear, and she found this out from an anonymous source who sent her a note. From that day on she fought against gender-based pay discrimination. Lilly Ledbetter is a great example for young women to fight for their rights and to not stop fighting. I met Lilly Ledbetter, when I was young, when she spoke at the college where my mom worked. I do not remember much from the encounter, but I do remember the impact that her speech had on the crowd. She is an inspiring lady, and her story will continue to help women to earn equal pay to men and fight for pay equity.

Some ways that we as women can solve the problem of pay inequality is to keep fighting to be paid fairly. For example, if a boss refuses to pay you equal to a man of the same quality then quit, or go to a higher up to get what you want. The main way that people can help to solve pay inequality is to accept that women can be equally qualified as men. There needs to be state and federal laws that make it illegal to pay women less than men, and these laws need to be enforced. Women should be able to report unfair treatment, be listened to, and respected for their contribution to the workforce. I hope that my kids, later in life, will not have to deal with pay inequality because women have the right to be paid fairly. Education and experience should inspire pay, not gender!