'I still choke up on my free days'.
TL;DR: A 39 year old cat mom who has been a DEI consultant since she was 21 cries about the gravy train drying up.
Some relevant quotes from the article:
She's had to pick up two part-time jobs in retail and as a scuba diving instructor to pay her basic expenses like rent. "I have to support myself," Brown, who lives in Key West, Florida, said. "I haven't worked in any industry but politics and foreign aid since I was 21."
Welcome to the world of the average working American, bitch. Times are hard,and a lot of us have been working two jobs (or more!) to make ends get within conversational distance, much less meet. Also, maybe you should move out of the high cost of living area now that the trough ain't full, little piggie.
She lined up three contracts for 2025, totaling about $63,000, funded by USAID ... to promote economic growth, reduce poverty, and root out corruption.
Oh, the absolute fucking irony.
Brown was assigned to Albania (snip) She was set to travel to Albania and conduct gender analyses (snip) Brown was going to conduct research on the barriers that girls, women, persons with disabilities, and others face in accessing secondary education in Timor Leste and Gambia. (snip) "My expertise is in gender equality and social inclusion," Brown said.
Ah-ha! A fucking gender studies degree in actual use! Maybe she should congregate with her fellow degree holders at Starcucks!
"It wasn't until I started getting out on that dive boat at least once or twice a week in the sun and in the water that I started to feel a little better emotionally and physically," Brown said. "I still choke up on my free days."
Well, it's not touching grass, but it'll do.
For the three things they are claiming to try and accomplish, paying them the pittance that is the "average" salary there is counterproductive.
If you were just trying to run a business that would be one thing, but to try and literally reduce poverty and improve the economy you need to be paying well above the average to try and uplift people while putting money into circulation.
I mean the average doubled, implying they paid significantly more than the old average.
Besides which paying an average salary to people who have no productive skills to do nothing competitive, (I.E. gender and equality majors) will still raise the lower end wages. By taking people out of the pool of least skilled workers they still indirectly raise the value of those that remain.