Show Women the Money!

Today is Equal Pay Day; a reminder to men everywhere that women are superior. Women are smarter, better at multi-tasking, and tolerate pain better (ahem, childbirth). Oh, and women can grow babies in their bodies while being smarter, better at multi-tasking, and generally ruling the world. Let's not forget taking care of men who barely survive the common cold or, heaven forbid, the flu. All this for 79 cents on the dollar. Not a bad deal...for a man.

If you're looking for evidence let me point you to the efforts at Huffington Post. A great piece by Catherine Pearson provides both data and anecdotal stories providing evidence that women are underpaid. The most glaring example comes from the world of soccer/futbol where members of the US National Women's Team filed suit with the EEOC alleging wage discrimination against the US Soccer Federation. The women generated $20 million more in revenue than the men and won the World Cup. Co-Captain Carli Lloyd wrote that, while she received a $75,000 bonus for winning the World Cup, the men would have received a bonus approaching $400,000. Let's take moment to ponder the lunacy of the US men winning the World Cup. A sizable bonus does seem acceptable given the miracle it would take to accomplish such a feat. According to ESPNW, the "women would earn $99,000 each if they won 20 friendlies, the minimum number they are required to play in a year. But the men would likely earn $263,320 each for the same feat, and would get $100,000 even if they lost all 20 games." This is a sport where, in the US, the women are more talented, win regularly, and generate more revenue than the men. If that is not the business case for equal pay....actually, the women should make significantly more than the men in soccer/futbol.

It is no better for women who shatter the glass ceiling. According to Fortune, more than 80 percent of female CEOs in the Fortune 1000 have families and are CEOs of fortune 1000 companies. However, when the Associated Press published the 2015 list of the 10 highest paid CEOs only one was a woman. The top two male CEOs made more than the top 10 female CEOs combined. Part of this may be because in top companies male CEOs far outnumber women; which simply proves the glass ceiling is still in place.

You're probably amazed and enlightened by all this but thinking "Fortune 1000 CEOs and global sports is a little different than the real world". Actually, it's not. Right here in our backyard it happens all the time. The Buffalo Bills are facing a lawsuit by former Buffalo Jills cheerleaders who claim they were paid below minimum wage and required to attend events without pay. The team, recently purchased by a multi-billionaire, said it will continue to fight the allegations. According to American FactFinder*, the median income for men in the 14052 zip code is $53,654. By comparison, the median income for women in the same zip code is $32,070. That's a difference of more than $20,000 and the local numbers are not much different than the national numbers.

It is time to pay women the $0.22 they are rightfully owed.  Our wives, daughters, colleagues and friends deserve better. Women have earned it for years. Women will get up tomorrow, and everyday, to earn it again. This is not just a women's issue. This is a family issue. This is an equality issue. Equal pay for women is just one step in the fight for equality but it is an important one. It's 2016, let's start acting like it.



*S2401 Occupation by Sex and Median Earnings in the Past 12 Months (in 2014 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) for the Civilian Employed Population 16 Years and Over. ZCTA5 14052.

Happy 2016!

New Year's Eve has never been a particularly important day in our household. Even in the pre-restless natives days we never really celebrated. This year, our trusty assistant declared a new New Year's Eve tradition at the farmhouse: we shall brew to close out the calendar year; which allows us to celebrate the new year with a new beer. Also, it's our hope that you hate the word "new" by the time you get to the bottom of this post. 

Name: Out with the Old
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.022
Primary Fermentation: 4 days
Secondary Fermentation: 74 days
Age 14 days

3.3 lbs CBW Pale Ale Malt Extract
3.0 lbs Munich Malt
1.0 lbs Crystal Malt
1.0 lbs Wheat Malt
1.0 lbs LD Carlson Maltodextrin
0.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1 1/8 cup Muntons Plain Light Malt Extract
Abbey Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs)
1.0 oz UK Fuggle Hops (4.2% alpha)
1.0 oz Cascade Hops (5.5% alpha)

Pour the grains into 4 gallons of cold water. Mash at 148 degrees F for 15 minutes. Raise the temperature to 160 degrees F and hold for 45 minutes.* Sparge grains to produce 6.5 gallons of wort. Bring wort to boil and add 0.5 ounces of UK Fuggle and 0.5 ounces of Cascade hops. Boil for 15 minutes and add malt extracts. Boil an additional 10 minutes and add remaining Fuggle hops. Allow boil for an additional 5 minutes and add remaining Cascade hops. Remove from heat. Cool, transfer to primary fermenter, and pitch yeast at room temperature (for us 70 degrees).

Results: This beer turned out quite well, in part due to greater attention to detail than some of our more recent brews. Despite the spike in temperature*, the brew is a solid abbey ale. Flavor is sweet and malty with just the slightest bitterness on the back end. Color is very dark caramel; medium carbonation. If there is a negative it's that we expected a richer, more complex product. This may come with more aging. Regardless, we are very pleased with the results.

*At approximately 28 minutes remaining the temperature spiked to 170 degrees F. Heat reduced to lowest setting. At 22 minutes remaining heat turned off. Ended this phase with approximately seven minutes remaining (45 minutes reduced to 38 minutes). Obviously, this was not part of the original recipe.