Beyonce Knowles, the singer known for her songs about girl power proclaims that "gender equality is a myth!"
According to CNN, The singer has written an essay for The Shriver Report, a media initiative led by journalist Maria Shriver.
The "average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes. But unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change."
She continues, "Both men and women... are equally important and need one another. ... We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible."
Her words are familiar to the lyrics in her songs, which references the trials of womanhood and female empowerment going all the way back to her work with Destiny's Child.
There are Destiny's Child songs like "Independent Women," Parts I and II, with lyrics such as "I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings. ... Try to control me, boy you get dismissed".
Last April, Beyonce told British Vogue that she hesitated to call herself a feminist. The word feminist "can be very extreme," she told Vogue. "But I guess I am a modern-day feminist. I do believe in gender equality. Why do you have to choose what type of woman you are? Why do you have to label yourself anything? I'm just a woman and I love being a woman."
On her 2011 disc "4" there was the song "Who Run the World (Girls)?," in which she praises the power of women: "My persuasion/can build a nation .... (We're) smart enough to make these millions/strong enough to bear the children/then get back to business."
In her piece for The Shriver Report, Beyonce says "Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect."
The singer's contribution is one of many pieces that fill Shriver's report, which explores the rates of financial insecurity among American women, examines its impact, and offers solutions for change.
Along with Beyonce, actress Eva Longoria, who wrote a piece entitled "Empowering Latinas," and basketball star LeBron James, who wrote an appreciation of the nation's working mothers.
It should be noted though that Beyonce's music message has its conflicts. In the 1999 Destiny's Child song, "Bills, Bills, Bills," the lyrics scold a lover who's gone from footing the bill to asking for money. "Silly me, why haven't I found another," the song continues. "Can you pay my bills? ... If you did then maybe we could chill."
