Gender Pay Gap: Inequity, Work and Society
In Australia over the last 20 years, it is documented that a person’s income and wages, differs based on one’s gender, known as the gender pay gap (The Conversation, 2017; Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), 2017c). This paper will discuss what a gender pay gap is, various economic explanations for this gap, summarise sociological responses, and identify possible policy recommendations and their implications. The gender pay gap is generally measured as the variance between men and women’s average weekly pay equivalent of full-time earnings, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings (WGEA, 2017b). Unequal pay, where women and men do the same work and are paid at differing rates, based on
…show more content…
Between 1996- 2016 the average weekly full-time earnings benefitted males by $261.3, with women earning $1369.7 compared to men earning $1631 (WGEA, 2017c). Over time the gender based average earnings between genders was a gap of 16.02% between 1995- 2015 and further reducing to 14.3% for 2015-2016 (WGEA, 2017b).
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).
Experience, age and personal factors in addition to workplace inequalities can influence a salary (WGEA, 2017b). The 2016 analysis by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), found that healthcare, retail and education sectors were highly dominated by females, and mining, utility services and construction were undertaken dominantly by men (WGEA, 2017c).
Despite increasing workforce participation and educational attainment, societal changes including;
The gender wage gap in America is a social problem that has existed since women entered the workforce. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, for every dollar earned by a man, a woman made 78.3 cents in 2013 (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Data from 1983 to 1998 and concluded that women workers in their prime earning years make 38% of what men make. During the 15-year period, an average prime-age working woman earned only $273,592 compared with $722,693 earned by the average working man in 1999 (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). The wage gap affects women of color in a more profound way that it does non-hispanic white women. Hispanic women are making 53%, African American women are making 64%, and Asian American women are making 87% of white men’s earnings each year (AAUW, 2013).
The gender wage gap between men and women needs to be brought to people’s attention due to the cause of unequal amount of pay for the exact same job. Our question is what is a gender pay gap? A gender wage gap is when you take the gap between both men and women’s pay and get a certain percentage and that is the gap between the two. This is a definition of gender pay gap according to an Australian Government article, “A gender pay gap is the difference between women’s and men’s earnings, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings.” Basically, you take the difference, or subtract, between men’s and women’s earnings all over, divide, the men’s earnings and you get a percentage of the gap if there is any. Now, statistics have shown that the women’s gap has narrowed some since the 1980’s, but it still continues. Adult women showed that the wage gap is smaller compared to the teen wage, 90 cents for every dollar made by a man. Said by the article Fact Tank, “...adults ages 25 to 34, the 2015 wage gap is smaller. Women in this group earned 90 cents for every dollar a man in the same age group earned.” Women within the age group of 25 to 34 gain 90 cents for every dollar a man within the same age group earned. If you truly think about it sure the gap is slightly smaller, but why is it not equal? They are around the same age and are doing the same job, whether it be part- time or full time. Now it was also stated within this article that these women, by estimation, would have to work around 44 days extra in order for them to earn what their counterpart made in 2015. However, how does it get like this? Is it possible that even with same or
The gender pay gap is the difference in pay earned by men and the pay earned by women.( Pay Equity Commission, 2012). There are various ways in measuring the pay gap between genders, such as full- time or full- year wage. Statistics Canada data ( 2012) displayed that the gender pay gap in Ontario was 26% for full- time and full- year employments, which means for every C$1 earned by a man, a woman earned 74 cents( Pay Equity Commission,2012).The pay gap has been narrowing slowly over time compared to the how it was in 1987, which was 36%. However the gender wage gap is still a problem that exists in the society. I will discuss about the feminist theory and how it can be interpreted in the gender pay gap of our society, especially in regards to celebrities.
The average woman in the United States makes approximately $82.90 for every dollar their male counterparts make. (Elsesser). While those 20 cents may seem inconsequential to you, they add up. Losing that much money all year can be the difference between someone living in poverty, and someone living a nice life. The gender pay gap is the cause of this problem. Around the world, women are losing money just because of what gender they are. The gender wage gap is a huge problem, that can only be solved by going to extreme measures, such as requiring people to release their employees wage gap and passing new laws.
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.
Seventy-seven cents to the dollar. A simple phrase used to describe the gender pay gap. Most people who use this phrase in casual conversation do not really know what this entails. It is much more than men earning more than women. The significance of this pay discrepancy becomes much more apparent when looking at the bigger picture. Over an entire lifetime of working, a woman making only 77 cents to the male dollar loses a total of $1.2 million dollars over the course of her working life (Murphy & Graff, 2005). A risk of poverty for women living with a pay gap is high. According to the European Commission, the at-risk-of-poverty rate is around 22 percent for women, compared to the 16 percent of men.
There is a 21% pay gap between women ($0.79) and men ($1.00). Full time working
The gender wage gap has been a nationwide problem since women were able to enter the workforce. Women have begun to speak out more about the issue and evaluate what they can do to change the industries and how they personally present themselves to help this change. Currently there is a wide range of opinions on this issue, with some saying it does not exist while others think it will ruin the economy if not fixed immediately. This makes it more difficult to address the problem and predict how it will be in the future; however, all sides of the spectrum are becoming more aware of what the gender wage gap means and what they can do to change it. This paper will analyze the different stances on the extent of this social issue as well as the current practices being used to increase knowledge and equalize pay for all.
April 8 is “Equal Pay Day,” which is an event where the main purpose is to raise awareness in regards to the social problem of the gender wage gap. The president makes his announcement that women still earn only about 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. There are people advocating left and right for women to take a stand and sue their employers for wage discrimination or make demands they want the government to fulfill. The question becomes whether or not what everyone is fighting for is actually true and worth fighting for. Authors Sarah Glynn, Kay Hymowitz, Mark Perry, and Andrew Biggs present a different idea. They all showcase in their articles the underlying factors in the gender wage gap such as college major, career choice, hours worked, job experience, and family circumstances. Discrimination cannot be ruled out completely, but the “77 cent” figure reflects gender differences based on the personal choices that people make about their careers, which results in the gender wage gap we have today. Society has been pointing the finger at discrimination for so long, but today we need to take a second look and come to the conclusion that there could be multiple reasons for the pay gap. This social problem is too complex to focus on only one particular reason.
A majority of women across the world are highly accountable for home duties, and child rearing, while men on the other hand are bound for working in higher paid salary jobs. As of a result of this, inequality amongst genders has turned into a controversy in the workplace. And due to this gender inequality, women have been led to poorly paid gender typed positions. The gender pay gap negatively impacts individuals and some elements that play a major role in this issue are: work experience, independent skills, specific length of time at a company, and the level of education the person has obtained. However, the
Wage gap is the statistical indicator of the significant difference of women's earnings relative to men’s. In America a
Although many people are now bringing up a pay gap between genders, there is something being over looked that proves there isn’t a pay gap, but something else. The Gender Income Gap is a supposed payment gap between men and women, stating that to every man’s dollar a woman only gets payed seventy cents. Statements like theses can grab people’s attention and get them to believe this without much proof of it actually existing. Most people get there information about the gap from surveys over all women and men average pay, this is not a good representation of the topic because it doesn’t go into any detail of actual jobs and difference of pay. There are many other factors that going into the pay gap that would make it into something else not necessarily a pay gap. There are several solutions for this problem most of them aren’t necessarily for equality but for the gain of one sex at the cost of the rights of another. The one I will be talking about later doesn’t need government intervention and doesn’t need for one sex to do more. This solution will come from “changes in the labor market, especially how jobs are structured and remunerated to enhance temporal flexibility.”1
Even though it is against the law to pay women a lower wage based on gender, a significant earnings gap exists. Women earn less than men in almost every line of work regardless of age, race, ethnic background or level of education. This study discusses the disparity of income between men and women, and the primary factors that contribute to the disparity. It then looks at some of the legislation that has been passed or is under consideration to address the issue. Finally, it concludes that there are many reasons for the disparity other than gender discrimination. Men and women are motivated by different things and therefore make different choices. Gender discrimination
According to the data published by Australian Bureau of Statistics in May 2015, the full time average earnings of women is $284.20 or 17.9% less than the full time average earnings for men, this figure is calculated on the full time employees’ average weekly ordinary time earnings. The gender pay gap has hovered between 15% and 19% over the past two decades. The gender pay gap is the different between average weekly full time equivalent earnings of male and female, expressed as a percentage of earnings of male. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency highlights that the gender pay gap is resulting from a combination of factors, including the female graduates start on a lower wages then male graduates, even they are in the same industries and workplace and this is maintained throughout their careers, women are under presented in leadership and senior management position, women’s traditional caring role combined with lack of flexible work options that force them into casual an non-career part time jobs, men receive bigger attraction and performance bonuses than women and male dominated work has historically been better paid
What is the gender pay gap? The definition of gender pay gap is the difference between earnings for a male and a female, which is expressed as a percentage of male’s earnings (Causes of the). There are many factors that influence the gender pay gap. Listed are five factors that I found on the internet they are: discrimination and playing favorites when it comes to hiring and pay decisions, working in different industries as well as jobs, the lack of workplace flexibility, career progress and opportunities, and domestic work. For women the pay gap starts from the time they enter the workforce to affecting their lifestyles and their economic security (Causes of the). According to www.aauw.org, back in 2016, the wage gap between men and women working full-time in the U.S. was 20 percent, which has decreased since 1970 (Miller, The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap). This is because education for women is progressing and they are participating more in the workforce. If the rate continues to increase women and men will reach pay equality by 2059 (Miller, The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap). When looking at the pay gap there are many different characteristics that can play an important factor. The ones that will be discussed are location, racial groups, age, and education. There are also ways of how to try and reduce if not even eliminate the wage gap in coming years.