Key Women 's Issues Of Hr

Gender equality is something that has been a problem through the ages. Susan B. Anthony and many others fought for the right to vote which was granted in 1920. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law stating that no employer can discriminate based on gender. The American Association of University Women published a graph on Women’s Median Annual Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s Median Annual Earnings for Full-time, Year-round Workers, 1974-2014 and it shows that in 1974, women were paid 59% of what men were paid. The graph shows the improvements over the years and that in 2014, women were paid 79% of what men were paid. The gap has not budged since 2014. The gender pay gap has improved over the years, but it will not close until new legislation passes.

For the first time in history women had surpassed men in the paid labor force. Yet, instead of provoking an equality among the sexes, the figures play no statistical significance, as women still try to bridge the gap between their inequality among their male counterparts. One apparent setback for women in the workplace is their unequal payment, “Women workers are still paid less than men, currently about-three quarters of mens income if they work full time and year round”(Institute for Womens’s Policy Research, 2010). Although there women are beginning to integrate into vastly male populated jobs throughout the labor force “… women in America today earn 78 cents to a man’s dollar, according to the U.S Census Bureau, and have struggled for decades to achieve pay for equal work” (Riley 2). Not only has this pay gap significantly effected the nature of women throughout the county, it has also violated the bill that Congress passed called the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The Equal Pay Act was signed in order to establish a more sound and equal treatment among the sexes. It noted that an employer was unable to discriminate employees on grounds of gender, yet as figures denote today, this bill seems to not possess enough jurisdiction over the wage gap. The wage gap has contributed to various problems within the United States, especially among single mothers who do not have a supporting male figure within their household.

The gender wage gap in the U.S. has been a topic of debate in politics through most of the 21st century. In 2015, women were paid 80 percent of what men were paid (SIMPLE TRUTH). This number is considerably smaller than that of the 1960’s because of women’s progress in education and participation in the workforce (SIMPLE TRUTH). The wage gap can have adverse lifelong effects on a woman’s life. Because women are paid less than men, a woman will receive less social security, pensions, and other resources when they retire than a man would (Fischer & Hayes, 2013). There is a common stigma that women do not get paid as much as men because they do not ask for higher wages but not everything can be “explained

In 2014, female full-time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21% according to IWPR Org or Institute for Women’s Policy Research. There is no debate that in the past women have been discriminated against when it came to compensation and wages in the workforce which led to the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This a federal law signed by John F Kennedy attempting to amend wage disparity based on sex, under this law, it is still illegal for employers to discriminate wages by sex for the same amount of work, which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility and are performed under similar working conditions with the exception of seniority system, merit system, or based on quantity or quality of production. With all these laws and statistics, the raw differences between the gender wage gap can be attributed to the differences in choices made by an individual.

In general, the wage gap has narrowed at a slow, and uneven, pace over last three decades. Recent data shows that women in the American workforce earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns (Trevino). The existence of this “gender wage gap” has been an issue since women entered the workforce. The ongoing issue of the past has now become an apparent problem in our modern-day, progressive society. Women nowadays have opportunities that were not obtainable in past decades but must overcome, or ignore, the barrier of being punished in the long run for simply being a woman. While there have been major progresses in breaking through the norms and social constructs, women face other challenges, including discrimination and sexism (Gender). Despite the ongoing struggle to reach wage equality between the sexes through various legislative initiatives and the ever increasing involvement of women in the American workforce, the wage gap has only closed by a marginal 15 percent over the last four decades (Dale and Levine).

Created and perpetuated in part by patriarchal religions and capitalism, the American workplace exemplifies sexism in modern society, contributing to the continuation of women being viewed as subordinate to men (Albee and Perry 145). In 2013, American women earned 82 cents to every dollar that men earned, a discrepancy known as the gender wage gap, and that gap widens for working mothers in the United States. Though mothers comprise a larger percentage of the workforce than do fathers, they loose $141 each week compared to fathers’ average earnings, increasing the yearly wage gap from 12 percent on average to 25 percent for working mothers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). A study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research used data spanning the 15 years between 1983 and 1998 to conclude that women earned 38 cents to every dollar earned by a man, demonstrating the costs over time of the unequal distribution of family responsibilities (English and Hegewisch 1). On average, women earned $237,592 compared to the men’s average of $722,693 over the 15-year period (2). Despite evidence that approximately half of the gender wage gap can be attributed to normal economic wage fluctuations, an argument often used by those who claim the gap does not exist, sexism has been shown to contribute to the other half (TD Economics 1).

April 14, 2015 was identified as “Equal Pay Day” which signified how far into the upcoming year that a normal woman would have to work to bring in what the normal man did the year before. In fact, the White House stated women, who actively work full-time, obtain seventy-seven percent of the income that their male correspondents do. So, this basically indicates that women would have to work an additional sixty days just in order to obtain the same amount of income that men did the year before. Since the 1970 's, the gender pay gap has actually diminished slightly, however it is still a continuing problem (Blau & Kahn, 2006). There is a substantial wage differential between men and women in the same job. On average, women persistently obtain significantly less than men. Over the past thirty years, the pay gap between men and women has hardly changed at all. Why is this the case, though? Do women get paid less than men because of the profession that they choose to go into? Is it because men generally work more full-time jobs? Or is it because women are more often the dominant caretaker of their children? Within this paper, I will be addressing these issues and how the gender pay gap affects women of all backgrounds. Women make up nearly half of the workforce. They are the equivalent, if not dominant, providers in four out of ten families. Women, who obtain college, as well as graduate degrees more often than men, however they persistently make substantially less than men. In

The wicked problem of the gender wage gap’s presence in the United States workforce is highly debated. Because the issue is often intangible and so complex in nature, the causes of the wage gap are often difficult to pinpoint and wholly address. In nearly almost every occupation women earn less than their male counterparts. Over their lifetimes men will be paid more than women (Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2017). There are various contributions to income gap seen between women and men these include: discrimination in payment, hiring, or promotions. Furthermore, there are other factors that must be considered in explaining the wage gap between women and men. Other conditions include: statistically, women-dominated careers are lower

“Women are almost half of the workforce. They are the equal, if not main, breadwinner in four out of ten families. They receive more college and graduate degrees than men. Yet, on average, women continue to earn considerably less than men. In 2015, female full-time workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent. Women, on average, earn less than men in virtually every single occupation for which there is sufficient earnings data for both men and women to calculate an earnings ratio” (“Pay Equity & Discrimination,” 2015).

Significant wage gaps between the genders in the labor market are not a new phenomenon. Historically, women have earned less than men in the same job positions. Today this wage gap has diminished (60% earning in relation to men's wages in 1960 to 77% of male wages in 2011) but still survives. While it is easy to attribute this persistent gap to the umbrella cause of gender discrimination in the labor market, it is important to explore other foundations of this inequality in order to fully appreciate and address the problem.

Equality is a sensitive topic. We all heard it all during the past elections. There are only few politicians who lobby for equal pay, equal rights, equality across the board specifically if you are a woman. In April of 2016, Hillary Clinton a Democratic Presidential Candidate said in an interview with New York Times she would “use every tool” to close the wage gap. “It’s something that is long overdue, but I know we’ve just got to keep moving forward.”

Inequality is not a new concept to most of us. It has been apart of our history since before we founded colonies. Inequality and discrimination can take many forms and there are many facets one can explore. The most striking for women are the attitudes and behaviors people have towards them in the workplace. As the years have past, inequality has had a difference face and color, and now it comes in the form of unequal pay, sexual harassment of women and the glass ceiling effect in the workplace. Women have traditionally held roles in which they are undervalued and therefore paid less and have less influence over decision as their male counterparts (Buchanan, 2014). Gaps in salary have existed throughout history,

There is no debate on whether women are discriminated against in the workplace. It is evident in census data; in 1998 women made $.73 to the dollar of which was paid to men. Even today, there is still a pay gap that exists between women and men. It is said that some of the organizations that are pro-equal pay, including some unions, support the idea that the government should set wages for all jobs. To the contrary, the organizations that are proponents of equal pay are not for job wages being set by the government. They wish to have the discrimination taken out of pay scales from within the company. Commonly, this pay gap is attributed to the fact that women in the United States are still expected to attend to familial obligations over work. Data shows that women do attend to family obligations, like having a child, caring for a sick family member, or caring for an elder; but they also do not give up on work. Yes, women often chose lower paying jobs in exchange for flexible hours and do spend a lower number of hours per week long-term at their jobs than their male counterparts. Because women are socialized to be the primary care givers they are kept at these lower paying jobs that are more flexible, the jobs allow them to care for their family yet still retain an income (possibly a second income for the household). Women’s changing roles in society has resulted in this workplace problem. Women are allowed and often encouraged to work but they are not rewarded or

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic, in 2016, the median weekly earnings for women were 82 percent of the median weekly earnings for men. Which signifies, women’s median weekly earnings were $749 of the median weekly earnings for men $915 that cast women $7968 per year; women justified for 44 percent of full-time wage and salary workers. “Despite the fact that pay equity is the law, studies show women earn less money than men for doing the same work. This pay gap does not necessarily decrease simply because more women are achieving “bread winner” status” (Gillette 4). Therefore, Equal Pay Act prohibits sex-based wage discrimination between men and women in the same establishment. “Even though in 1963, Congress

Pay gap at the workplace has always been an issue for women. President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, which states an employer must pay women the same amount as a man in the same position. A study “Wage Gap Is the Result of Discrimination” by Mashaun D. Simon debates the Equal Pay Act to end the gender pay discrimination that was still awaiting Senate approval in 2008. Statistics show that on average, women earned only 77 percent of the amount men earned. “Although the wage gap between men and women has reduced since the passage of the EPA, (Equal Pay Act) gender-based wage discrimination remains a problem for females in the U.S. workforce”. The pay inequality between men and women costs women over their lifetime. The director of Public Policy and Government Relations at the American Association,