Submitted by Maurice Wiggins
EMPAU6230_001_2015_2
Question: What factors contribute to the persistent gender gap present in the workplace and politics in the United States? Which policy instrument(s) should be used to ameliorate the gender gap? Explain.
The second decade of the 21stcentury in America is a ripe time to discuss gender bias and its manifestation in the workplace. Never more than in the last one hundred years has gender been so fluid. At the turn of the 20th century, American society viewed gender as a binary system. People were categorized, and largely self-identified, as either male or female. Any permutation outside of this binary code was societally unacceptable. Since that time American society and laws have evolved. Seminal judicial rulings have changed the landscape of gender equality markedly.
In 1920, the U.S. Congress ratified women’s suffrage. In 1935, the National Council of Negro Women was established to end job discrimination, racism and sexism. In 1960, the U.S. FDA approved birth control pills. In 1973 Roe v. Wade established women’s right to legal abortion. In 1978, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans unequal treatment of expecting women in the workplace. In 1996, United States v. Virginia military academies must accept women. In 2013, the ban on women in combat was lifted. Today, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) rights are at the forefront of the sociopolitical agenda. This century has seen LGBT marriage pass in a number of
The gender-wage and job gap have been an evident issue for decades in our society. Alice Paul (the writer of the Equal Rights Amendment) once said, “I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me, there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.” People over time have come up with reasons for why these gaps continue in specific jobs. This is an issue that is happening not only in our country but across the world. Nonetheless, there are many people who believe that the government should not have interference in the workplace. Due to the many reasons these gaps still exist in our world, the gender-wage and job gaps are something that the government should be taking steps in to close.
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.
One cannot begin the discussion of gender pay gap without defining it. Simply put, gender pay gap is the inequality between men and women wages. Gender pay gap is a constant international problem, in which women are paid, on average, less than that of their male counterpart. As to if gender pay gap still exist, its exactness fluctuates depending on numerous factors such as professional status, country and regional location, gender, and age. In regards to gender, in some cases, both men and women have stated that the gap does not exist. Due to various countries initiatives to shrink the wage inequality between men and women wages in the work force, the gap has narrowed, respectively, which may have helped form such opinion. However, stating that the gender pay gap does not exist in today’s society, anywhere, is completely unlikely. Seeing that the gap has loosened its grasp in the working world, in other countries, the gap between pay has widen or remained stagnant. One cannot help but wonder why the gap remains consistent even with such substantial progress made in countries where the gap has decreased.
The gender pay gap is a problem nationwide in the United States. It is a phenomenon that affects women of all education levels, ages, and races. Although it varies in a state-by-state basis, the pay gap is prevalent in all states (Miller, 2017). The issue is also occupation-wide, meaning that nearly every occupation will have a gender gap (Miller, 2017). Statistics from The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap have shown that while an increase in education help women earn more, it does not eliminate the problem all together or close the gap (Miller, 2017). As of recent statistics, women are paid approximately 80 cents for every dollar a man makes, however, the gap is worse for women of color, especially, when compared to the salary of that of white men; African American women earn 63% of the salary that white men earn, Native American women earn 58%, and the largest gap is for Latina women, who earn only 54% (Miller, 2017).
The roles and characteristics related to males and females vary according to time and culture (Keating 2003). A concept of male breadwinner model gave important impacts on the Australian economic, politics, culture and social field in early twentieth century (Broomhill and Sharp 2005). However, in the past few decades, there has been gradual changes occurred in the Australian gender order (ibid.). Even though men are the dominant gender in the workforce, due to globalization, women gained more opportunity to have jobs in the workforce (Jones 1983). In addition, there are increasing number of women in Australian workforce after World War 2 (Broomhill and Sharp 2005). But still gender inequality has been ongoing debate in the workforce for
The Huffington post (n.d) notes that in 2015, and on average, women still make 78 cents to a man's dollar. A new report goes beyond that oft-quoted statistic and examines this discrepancy along racial, geographical and educational lines. The American Association of University Women's (AAUW) "The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap" report breaks down the wage gap in every state, including Washington D.C., using data from 2013. The U.S. capital comes closest to pay equity, with women earning an average of 91 percent of the wages that men do. At the bottom of the list is Louisiana, where women earn just 66 percent of what men do. The report also found that women of color continue to be hit hardest by the gender wage gap. Asian-American women
The gender wage gap has been a substantial subject that has had numerous studies done, that included extensive debates and commentary for the past three centuries. In fact, the gender wage gap predominantly affects women. For example, in 2003 people reported that women make eighty cents for every dollar men make(Gender Pay 8). For one thing, women should not be getting paid less for doing the same job as men. The individual hired at the same time as another individual should receive the same starting pay until it is shown they deserve more pay than they are receiving. If the wage gap continues to grow at the rate it has been, it will be another fifty years before women make the same as men (Discrimination 1). The workforce has grown a considerable
What is the root of feminism? There are many things that will anger you in life and getting played less than a man for the same job is one of them. Women are capable of getting a job, but we still fall behind due to unequal wages between women and men for the same duties. Gender inequalities are a huge factor in the workplace. There is a lot of tension when it comes to women being over worked. The amount of responsibilities that women have, from work to home and everything in between, is ridiculous and it is all based on the gender roles that society has developed. Lastly, what really triggers feminism is the world expecting all women to portray themselves as sex objects and then to getting criticized for it. Understanding sex, gender, how they link together and the input of society clarifies why women a treated this way.
In recent months few topics have gripped the nation quite like the idea of sexism and gender roles. While in the last few decades many strong leaders have stepped forth to reconcile the differences, American still has a long way to go. While we present ourselves as a model for other countries, doing so is unjust considering the misbalance of power, representation, perceived value and respect. While many continue to deny it, sexism is still a major problem in modern American society.
Since the 1920’s women have worked hard to be considered as equal citizens in our country. The book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows the gender discrimination back in the 1930’s ; and the Houston Chronicle article “The Effects of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace” by Samantha Gluck shows gender discrimination today. Gender discrimination has been dealt with for decades; despite the legislation for equality, many women to this day still feel gender based discrimination exists. Victims of gender discrimination experience offensive judgment. In Of Mice and Men the workers on the ranch constantly made jokes about curley’s wife.
Lips, H. M. (2003). The Gender Pay Gap: Concrete Indicator of Women's Progress Toward Equality. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 3(1), 87-109. Retrieved September 19, 2017, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-2415.2003.00016.x/full
The pay gap between men and women has fallen quite dramatically over the past 30 years though a sizeable gap still remains, but this headline figure masks some less positive developments in recent years. We are used to each generation of women making progress relative to the one before, but this process has slowed slightly with the better than the previous one(Centre Piece Summer 2006).
Poverty and ill-health are intertwined (Wagstaff, 2002). Poor countries, and poorer people within countries, tend to have worse health outcomes than better-off countries and people (Wagstaff, 2002). The poor tend to die earlier, have higher levels of morbidity, malnutrition, and mortality (Wagstaff, 2002). Poor women are not only challenged by the economic factor of the gender pay gap facing the same health problems of all those in poverty, but are further disadvantaged by being a woman.
I think that it is awesome that your daughter, even during a young age in high school, was able to recognize the gender disparities to her real life environment and apply this towards a specific area, such as kids’ toys. When I was this age, i remember knowing that there was definitely differences in genders, especially in how they were treated, I never completely understood that women were treated unfairly and considered inferior to men. This shows that she is aware of how the results of these gender differences have an influential impact on her life and those around her, and I think she is incredibly strong to acknowledge this, despite the patronization from naysayers she may have received from this. It is refreshing to hear that
The attached report, requested by the Human Resources Department on September 30, discusses the issue of gender gaps in the workplace in the context of the Canadian workforce. I believe you will find this report useful when determining salaries, hiring practices, and promotion of employees.