Correlation Between The Salaries Of Working Men And Women

In American society today there is an imbalance in the gender income gap between men and women in the work force. Many factors such as discrimination, productivity, educational background and disproportional hours worked contribute to this ongoing challenge. While many are skeptical, others remain to have strong beliefs that women and men are treated equally. In most professions according to Glynn “women only earn seventy seven cents for every dollar earned by men” (2014). Although, the seventy seven cents figure does not accurately reflect gender discrimination, it does capture some discrimination,

The gender pay gap is the difference between male and female earnings averaged in percentages. This difference in pay due to gender seems like it would be an obsolete practice in the twenty-first century, but it is real and is affecting millions of women and households in the country. In 2014, women working full time in the United States were paid 79 percent on average of what men were being paid, which is a gap of approximately 21 percent. This means that in the United States, females earned 94 cents on average to every dollar earned by males. According to one study by the Department of Labor’s Chief Economist, a typical 25-year-old woman working full time would earn $5,000 less over the course of her working career than a typical 25-year old man working in the same career. The reason why this pay gap exists does expand into other factors such as education, experience, the work being performed, qualifications, age, and ethnicity which are taken into account. The studies being conducted on the pay gap has economists verifying that discrimination is the best overall explanation and factor of the difference in pay between males and females.

The gender pay gap effects women in almost all fields of work and in all racial or ethnic

For example, “The mean earnings for male chemists are approximately 30 percent higher than the earning for female chemists, $78,984 and $60,901, respectively” (Broyles). Philip Broyles says that “[e]mployers recognize that generally, women have lower levels of human capital than men and therefore they discriminate against women because they believe they are less productive” (Broyles). Women lose significant amounts of income over their career time because their “salary gains are crimped from the start” (Boushey). Additionally, men receive better dividends just for being men. For instance, Broyles explains that “…while both men and women benefit from more lucrative work specialties, men generally get a higher return on their investments” (Broyles). Moreover, Broyles states, “[m]en with the same level of experience as women earn 6 percent more than women, making experience the greatest discriminatory factor in the earnings gap” (Broyles). To achieve wage inequality in the United States, employers should stop underestimating and discriminating women. Very often, women in the workforce are equally as qualified as their male colleagues, so they should not be penalized for it unilaterally.

The pay gap between genders exhibits sexism in America yet some researchers are in denial. Warren Farrell, expert on gender issues within legislation and former board member of National Organization for Women, claims otherwise. In his book Why Men Earn More, he attributes difference in wages to females choosing human resources jobs, which pay less, and not choosing harsher jobs that pay more (Farrell). His overall point is that men sacrifice more thus companies pay more for those sacrifices. His argument only compares the genders when different job requirements alter wages, but does not mention wages of identical jobs.

Gender pay gaps are defined as the average difference between men’s and women’s aggregate hourly earnings. One of the largest driving factors of the gender wage gap is the fact that men and women, on average, work in different industries and occupations. Women in every state experience the pay gap, but in some states it is worse than others. The pay gap affects women from all backgrounds, at all ages, and of all levels of educational achievement. In 2014, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 79 percent of what men were paid which is a gap of 21 percent. The gap has narrowed since the 1970s due to women 's progress in education and workforce participation and to men 's wages rising at a slower rate. The progress has stalled in recent years and the pay gap does not appear likely to go away on its own.

Considerable changes have taken place over the past two decades (WGEA, 2017c). Women have become more prominent within the workforce (WGEA, 2017c). Participation of women in the workplace has risen from 45% to 60% over the last 40 years (WGEA, 2017c, ABS, 2017a). Women’s education attainment has risen, showing a 28% increase since 1996 (ABS, 2017b; WGEA, 2017c). Despite this, earnings are not equal between male and female undergraduates (WGEA, 2017b). One suggestion is that women are choosing lower paid professions, contributing to an unequal distribution among part-time and full-time work (WGEA, 2017b).

The American Association University of Women reports that the average full time workingwoman receives just 80% the salary of a man. In 1960, women made just 60% of what men made, an upward trend that can be explained “largely by women’s progress in education and workforce participation and to men’s wages rising at a slower rate”, but a trend that is not yet equal (p. 4). Hill recognizes that the choices of men and women are not always the same, whether it be in college major, or job choice, however she concludes that women experience pay gaps in virtually all levels of education and lines of work. She suggests that continuing to increase the integration of women in predominately male dominated work will help the pay gap, however, she believes that alone won’t be enough to ensure equal pay for women.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that women's paychecks are 26% smaller than male coworkers doing the same work. The gap widens to 32% for female executives compared to male executives. It is suggested that women tend to be less aggressive when negotiating base pay during the interview process. Women are more likely to accept the offered salary than men are. Men tend to negotiate with the employer for a

However, Sandberg blames women for the pay difference and says it the women’s work ethic that can help solve the problem. Subsequently, Dill states that less than 1% of jobs on the salary list had an even pay difference between men and women (Dill). An example of a job that pays even for both genders is an event coordinator. Besides an event coordinator and a few other jobs, there are not many with an even pay rate for men and women. Although most jobs pay men more than women, there are a few jobs where female employees make more than their male colleagues. Physician Advisers and social workers make $1.08 for every dollar a man makes, there are a few jobs that are skewed the other way but most of them are toward men(Dill). The point is that these stats need to change and become more even. The more even the stats are, the better. Sandberg and Stampler would also agree, that there should be many opportunities and should be even for both genders.

Researchers have proposed a variety of explanations for systematic gender inequality in the workplace. Cultural benefits, the actions of male employees, the actions of the female employees, and the actions of the employer can contribute to intentional or unintentional gender discrimination (Ngo, Foley, Wong, & Loi, 2003). It has also been mentioned that women make less money because their work environment is generally safer than the stereotypical male work environment; childcare, cashiers, and secretary positions as opposed to firefighters, truck drivers and construction workers (Parcheta, Kaifi, & Khanfar, 2013). Perhaps the most dominant reasoning for women receiving less pay is the carrying over of biological roles into the workplace. Female employees often take time off to have a family, take care of a family, and are the primary caregiver of said family.

I examined different professional industries in The United States to get a familiar understanding of gender inequality around me. Gender inequality does not particularly favor one sex in every professional industry. Joanne Lipman’s article, "Let’s Expose the Gender Pay Gap," dealt with professional women in the work force and the gender pay gap that exists between professional men. There is also a distinct gender gap between a woman and a man asking for a raise or promotion within a company. “Female doctors and surgeons, for example, earn 71 percent of what their male colleagues make, while female financial specialists are paid just 66 percent as much as comparable men. Other researchers have calculated that women one year out of college earn 6.6 percent less than men after controlling for occupation and hours, and that female M.B.A. graduates earn on average $4,600 less than their male classmates for their first jobs.” (Lipman). There is a statistical gender pay gap in The United States that is undeniable.

Gender equality in salary is always unfair. Men employees always receive higher wages than women employees had received. Companies would like to hire men employees compared to women employees because they believed women employees are weak and cannot competent in the workplace although they have abilities and skills. As a conclusion, our research has proven that this theory was true.

The issue of gender inequality towards women in male-dominated fields still occurs today despite an equality law implanted over 50 years ago. The purpose of this collected research is to address the issues of sex-discrimination in traditional male careers such as segregated stereotypes, unfair career advancements and the gender based wage gap. Throughout the research process, discoveries revealed that women are viewed by males as incapable of completing work in male-based fields such as construction and engineering, are rarely eligible for management positions in careers (based on their gender, not skill level) and only make 73-85% income as compared to their male colleagues.

“The wage gap has narrowed by more than one-third since 1960”(Hegewisch, 2010) and “the share of companies with female CEOs increased more than six-fold” (Warner, 2014) since 1997. As well as the truth that men and women’s earnings differ for many other reasons besides the presence of sexism. “Discrimination in labor market, in education/retiring programs, unequal societal norms at home and the constrained decisions men and women make about work and home issues” (Hegewisch, 2010) are also factors that can contribute to the unequal treatment of man and women in the workplace. Yet even with most of these variables removed women are still being paid less than men, sexually harassed in the workplace and hold very little managerial positions.