Pay Gap Research Paper

As long as an American woman is putting in the same amount of hours with the same qualifications and experience in the same occupation as an American male, and yet taking home a wage that is any lower, she is not being treated fairly as an equal. Contrary to many arguments, it’s undeniable that a wage gap exists, and while there are various ideas as to the most probable cause, there is no reason why this gap should continue to go uncorrected or unchanged. Our government should take concrete steps to close the gender wage gap because it violates women’s rights and equality.

Equal pay is a problem on a global scale. Over 145 countries have a documented pay wage gap (Werft). One would hope the United States would have the smallest wage gap, but in 2016, the United States was in only 45th place in the smallest wage gap (“Rankings”). In fact, most women in the United States only make $0.77 compared to a whole dollar they should earn. The state with the worst wage gap is Louisiana, with only, on average $0.69 for every man’s dollar (“Rankings”). One in three of the 15.2 million families headed by women have fallen below the poverty line, leaving their children to suffer in poverty

Simultaneously, the gender pay gap has financial effects not just on the women, yet their families too. Studies have shown that American families with children count on a women’s earnings as a massive part of their family’s income, and many are the head of the household. Data demonstrates that “seventy percent of mothers with children under 18 participate in the labor force, with over 75 percent employed full-time. Mothers are the primary or sole earners for 40 percent of households with children under 18 today, compared with 11 percent in 1960. Women’s participation in the U.S. labor force has climbed since WWII: from 32.7 percent in 1948 to 56.8 percent in 2016” (Dewolf). Now women make up more than half of the U.S. workforce, the gap in earning deciphers to $7968 per year in median earnings for a high school graduate, $11,616 for a college graduate, and $19,360 for a professional school graduate. By and large, this gap effects hundreds of millions of women and their families, and lag them back hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout their life.

After years of Civil Rights Movements and Pay Equity Acts, as of 2014, women still only make 79 cents to a man 's every dollar. Although the wage gap has shrunk since the 1970’s, progress has recently stalled and chances of it vanishing on its own is unlikely. The gains that American women have made towards labor market experience and skills is tremendous. In fact, women account for 47% of labor workforce and 49.3% of American jobs. But despite of women’s strides, a gender pay gap still exists. Experts suggest that it will take 100 years to close the gap at the rate employers and legislators are working to create solutions. But by allowing women to work in higher paying positions and by proposing and updating pay equity laws, the gender gap can finally be diminished.

Women have made significant strides in society, proving themselves to be as capable as men in the workforce. However, while women are making equal contributions, men and women are not earning equal wages. Even though the Equal Pay Act was established in 1963, women continue to earn lower wages than men over half a century later. This inequality not only affects women as individuals but has a detrimental effect on the national economy. The gender wage gap in the United States should end because it is unjust; correcting it would have social and economic benefits for the U.S.

For example, becoming a mother and having to deal with motherly responsibilities can take an abundance of time out of the hours in which they could be earning money, thus “[skewing] pay-gap statistics, as they decrease the average total hours worked by women” (Cholensky 16). Working mothers spend at least twelve unpaid weeks on maternity leave. Regardless, an abundance of mothers need more time to bond with and take care of her newborn baby. There is a term that was coined for this exact disadvantage; the motherhood penalty. This argues that working mothers encounter disadvantages in pay, perceived competence, and benefits relative to childless women. However “ fathers earn somewhat more than childless men with the same characteristics—referred to as a fatherhood bonus” (Misra 27). Fathers and mothers may both work the same amount of hours and have very similar jobs, but the father will almost always get paid more than the working mother. This is because assumptions have made it so that women take responsibility of household chores and take care of their families. In the past, male counterparts have made the money to support their families and households. Standards in society have also been made, which influence the decisions that couples make in their

Democracy does not require equality of income and wealth. The wealth of does, however, change how much equality and representation is technically given to different groups of people. In America, majority rule will sometimes allow a majority to use its power to take the rights of other groups of people. Therefore, allowing a country and its government to become less egalitarian.

It has been more than fifty years since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was enacted, yet gender pay gap still exists today. According to National Women’s Law Center, women are paid only 80 cent for every dollar their male counterpart are paid. According to American Association of University Women, the total estimated loss of earnings for women compared to men over the course of 45 years are $700,000 for a high school graduate, $1.2 million for a college graduate, and $2 million for a professional school graduate. Although there are many factors that are responsible for gender pay gap, 40% of the pay gap is due to discrimination according to a report by the Joint Economic Committee Democratic Staff. By discriminating women, we, as a society, are telling

A single woman, 2 kids under the age of 18, a high stress work environment, and she still isn’t paid an equal amount as a man with the same job. Millions of women from across the United States have been fighting for equality since the dawn of time. and the results so far have not been outstanding. “If the Gap Were Closed, California Women Could Afford Food for More Than One Year, Four More Months of Mortgage and Utilities, or More Than Six Additional Months of Rent Annually” (California). The ever present pay gap in America is degrading to women in the workforce and should be closed because the gap doesn’t affect just white, single women; it affects all ethnicities, working mothers, and households across the country, although many people will

In the Huffington post “Women still face a persistent and troubling confidence gap, study reveals” by Emily Peck focuses on confidence of women and how wage gap are related. She states there is a study that reveals confidence issues in women, yet fails to reveal who conducts the study and what it direct data. Peck also argues gender discrimination and wage gap is a major reason why women aren’t as successful as men. Peck uses the ideas of a confidence gap to drawn the attention of women and confident lacking people to talk about the related topic wage gap. “Success correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence”, write author Katty Kay and Claire Shipman thus confidence is a barrier along with discrimination to the success

Now a day we hear a lot about the wage gap between men and women. President of The United States, in the state of the Union, stated that “Women earn much less than men for doing the same amount of the work”. Based on some statistic survey women makes seventy-seven cents on the dollar. The pay gap means women loses about $10,000 in median earning a year [4], if you consider career long-view the gap obstructs wealth building. This is one major concern in today's competitive world, in 2014 Republican National Committee argued that “The difference isn’t because of their genders; it’s because of their jobs.” Where research shows that gender wage gap is real and still exist The question that arises is why there is a wage gap between men and women? The answer to that question is women are more likely to take a break from their careers to take care of their family. This kind of disruption can have an impact on long-term earning.

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

School isn't for everyone, and I truly believe that. However, in today's society, we force it upon everyone. If you don't have at least bachelor's degree good luck finding work that will pay you a living wage. Moreover, having a Master's would improve your chances. On top of that, don't forget to factor in being a woman and being a person of color. The wage gap doesn't skip you simply because of your master's.

The workforce is constantly inclining in it’s participation of women, and thus, affects the way the United States economy is displayed. In other words, women have a perpetually strong contribution to the economy. Taking this into account, sources from the “National Partnership for women and Families”, a nonprofit organization that concern policies and education that focus on women and families, confer facts for the wage gap concerning women. The organization reports that, “On average, women employed full time in the United States lose a combined total of more than $840 billion every year due to the wage gap” (“NPWF”). Nationally putting everything together and applying it to a single woman that is being affected, there is an “ annual gender

There are some potential downsides to men having paid paternity leave. Most countries make parental leave open to both men and women; women take the vast majority of leave. When leave is long, this can have some consequences for women’s place in the labor market. For example, in Sweden parents have the right to a parental leave for up to 18 months, but women take nearly 85% of parental leave. The major goal of Swedish policy these days is to encourage men to take more parental leave; already there are two month “daddy only” leaves, which are lost to the couple if the father doesn’t take them. The problem with fathers taking paternity leave is that the fathers are scared to take leave for the fear that they may lose their jobs.