When hearing of human trafficking, one may think about third-world countries. It seems like one of those issues that teens living in the New York City don’t need to worry about, but believe it or not, it is closer to home then one might think. As any famous and popular sport, football brings many people together. According to SportingCharts, the total attendance of all Super Bowls combined is 3,747,914 people. Surprisingly enough, the Super Bowl hosted by the NFL unintentionally provides an opportunity for human trafficking, the exchange of humans for sex or labor. A time when so many people are only focused on the NFL Super Bowl, human traffickers had the perfect opportunity to sexually exploit females. The Super Bowl also brings together thousands of men from different states and countries leading to such acts. (Photo courtesy: New York Times)

Human Trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. It is the exchange of humans for sex or labor. Men, women and children are exploited on a daily basis. Kimberly Ritter, an anti-sex trafficking advocate, describes the horror during the super bowl: “They take little girls and walk them from truck to truck, they call them lot lizards. The pimp needs to keep control of the girls, that pimp can sell her up to 20 times a day, 7 days a week.”

This year, the NFL Super Bowl took place on Sunday, February 7th in Santa Clara. But this issue of human trafficking during the Super Bowl takes place almost every year. The sporting event attracts more trafficking than any other sport in the U.S. according to Huffpost. According to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot, the Super Bowl is the “single largest human trafficking incident in the U.S.” Researchers from Arizona State University found that leading up to the event, the number of online advertisements involving sexual content spiked in volume and almost half of these ads involved sex trafficking victims according to Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Human Trafficking Task Force said the business of selling sex was up in the weeks and days leading up to the Super Bowl. Teenagers and adult women are being exploited and forced into prostitution coming from different countries. Nita Belles, the anti-trafficking activist and the author of “In Our Backyard”, an account of the trafficking in the US says, “The enormity of the sporting event provides an ideal setting for traffickers to cash in.” She also says, “Any time you have a large number of people gathering in one place, especially males, and it’s a party atmosphere, it’s prime ground for sex trafficking.”

This issue is prevalent right in front of our eyes, yet we don’t see much of it, it’s hiding in plain sight. There is human trafficking taking place discreetly in Flushing, Queens and Long Island. “Queens is not only the epicenter for trafficking foreigners in New York, it really is on the entire East Coast,” said Lee, the Executive Director at Restore, which offers safe homes for victims who are able to escape and seek refuge. Many victims in Lee’s organization claim that when they first immigrated and got involved in the trade, they started in Flushing. Human trafficking happens in the US, often times when people are guaranteed a job which later turns out to be sex trade work and prostitution (Queens Chronicle). According to the US Department of Justice, 83% of victims are citizens. In Queens, people are forced to work in salons, shops, and brothels and on farms in Long Island. The issue is closer to home than many might think.

There are several efforts to prevent human trafficking, specifically the exploitation of women for sex. The United Nations is taking care of the issue on an international basis since it is prevalent in many parts of the world including countries such as Pakistan, Tanzania, Bolivia and Morocco. These countries have a significant number of victims and has shown no evidence of efforts to improve conditions, thus placing them on the United Nation’s watchlist (www.theguardian.com). There are many laws that prevent or reduce the risk of human trafficking which many countries choose to obey or disobey secretly. Here in the U.S., there are numerous agencies that help with the issue such as the National Human Trafficking Resource Center which can be contacted on a 24/7 basis. The media also makes efforts to cover the issue when it is prevalent during the Super Bowl or other events to bring awareness to people which can sometimes help prevent it.

Written by Lamia Rahman

Photo Credits to New York Times

Women have come a long way in creating a role for themselves in society. Prior to the Women’s movement and other historical events that brought attention to their rights, women were traditionally deemed inferior to men. However, throughout the years, women began to gain more acknowledgement and raised their voices in matters such as politics, business, and in society. Nevertheless, the gender pay gap remains a barrier to equality. The Economic Policy Institute gathered data which shows that women continue to be paid significantly less than men. Their ethnicity and background further influences how badly they’re affected. When they have no partner to contribute financially for the household, it affects them even more.

Based on a New York Times article by the editorial board, in 2014 women earned 79 cents for every dollar a man made. When the Equal pay act was put into effect in 1963, women who worked full time generally made 59 cents for every dollar that went into her male colleague’s salary. The editorial board states that in the last few decades, there has been a steady improvement in women’s wages however, they still remain below the wages for men in the same profession. Catherine Hill is the Vice President of the American Association of University Women which advocates for women’s equity and education. She explained in her Economic Justice report that women from African American and Hispanic backgrounds are facing similar problems, although their pay difference from men of their ethnicity is lower than the white race. This is due to the fact that men of other races have traditionally been paid less than white men. She provides a graph from 2014 which shows that women from these backgrounds made around 10,000 dollars less than white and Asian women in annual earnings.

Generally people with a higher level of education tend to find a better job and higher salary, however it is not effective against the gender pay gap. Thus the ways for women to be guaranteed a higher salary for their hard work is limited. Since an aspect of success is determined by one’s salary, more women fail to become as successful as men in their field of work. The National Women’s Law Center emphasizes that families are largely harmed by these circumstances, especially when a women is the sole breadwinner. They point out that single mothers have no other source of income so they have to work in order feed and provide shelter for their children. As they focus on the impacts of the wage gap, they revealed that in 2013 over 61 percent of working single mother families suffered from financial hardship as their poverty level fell under $18,800.

There have been several attempts made by the government to further enhance a woman’s right to equal pay. The White House site states that the initial support for equal pay between men and women by the government is clearly demonstrated through the Equal Pay Act signed by John F. Kennedy. This act ensured that men and women wouldn’t face sex discrimination in their workplace and they would both be compensated equally for the same work. However, they claim that wage disparities still exist regardless of the changes made for women’s equal pay. The New York Times article also disclosed that during several years of his presidency, President Obama tried to pass a bill for a Paycheck Fairness Act which would cover the whole American workforce, but it was eventually prevented by Republicans.

The process of acquiring a woman’s right to equal pay is long and faced with obstacles. Diana Rodriguez, a high school student voiced her opinion on this issue and stated, “most women of color tend to encounter discrimination in the workplace and their salary is lower than other workers. The treatment they get at work affects their self esteem and more, so it is only fair that their hard work is equally compensated.” Catherine Hill explains in her report that there is always room for improvement in the workplace, which contributes to a lower pay gap. She mentions that a difference between female and male workers is that males are more determined to negotiate for a higher salary or promotion. Due to the fear of being criticized or received as arrogant, women since an early age have been adapted to keeping quiet on these subjects. However, “Women can learn strategies to better negotiate for equal pay”, Hill concluded.

Written by Tsering Dolkar

Photo Courtesy of National Education Association