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Gender Pay Gap Essay

Decent Essays

The gender pay gap in the United States continues to exist despite legislations that have been passed in an attempt to eradicate this issue, namely the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Gender pay gap is known as the difference between the amounts of money paid to women and men, often for doing the same work (“Gender Pay Gap”). Studies continue to find significant gaps in the earnings of men and women, even in the same positions. Jessica Schieder and Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute reported that “women are paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men” (“Women’s Work”). This results in a wage gap that ranges between $5,000 and $12,000 depending on the position. Over the years, women have made great strides to elevate themselves educationally and be on par with men, yet the evidence shows that there are still deliberate efforts in limiting their professional and financial achievements. Many studies show that the main contributors to the continuance of the gender pay inequality are direct gender discrimination, societal norms and segregation (position and agency). The oldest argument used to explain the existence of the gender pay gap is discrimination. As defined by Educational International (EI), “Direct discrimination occurs when people who have the same level of educational attainment and work experience are treated differently because of their gender: different pay levels for the same work or different job requirements for

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