The Gender Wage Gap

One of the biggest problems facing women in the workplace is the wage gap separating men and women. Women, on average, get paid 77 cents on the dollar for every dollar a man makes. (Berman Huffington Post) This startling statistic is one many feminist use in arguing that sexism is not dead in this country. When women are not paid the same as men when doing the same job, it is like blatantly telling women that they are not good enough.

Since 1942, gender inequality, at least in pay, can be traced. In 1942 the National War Labor Board issued a general order that authorized employers to make voluntary adjustments in salaries or pay in order to demonstrate gender equality (at least in jobs were women and men worked the exact same job and had comparable quality and quantity of work) (CNN). Rates of women in labor unions

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Today, the working industry has made substantial progress towards gender equality pay while adding numerous career opportunities for woman in the workforce. However, society still poses ethical concerns between women and men regarding gender pay gap and discrimination for the same job function that apparently still exist. To put it differently, women regrettably have struggled as they continue in trying to make headway in gaining the respect of the working-class industry since the mid-1900’s. In some cases, researchers state that women in the workforce will not get paid equally for the same job function because of discrimination of gender gap. According to one research study, “there is still a gender pay gap. Women continue to earn considerably less than men on average” (Blau & Kahn, 2007, p. 8). While men have the higher ground of work tenure there should be equal pay for women with the same qualifications; I will argue the concerns of gender gap pay while using the utilitarian theory, deontological theory and the objection of moral reasoning to prove the ethical theory.

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.

America was founded in 1776, but it wasn’t until more than 150 years later when women were even allowed to vote. Although we have come a long way since then, women in this country are still not equal to men. The wage gap is a commonly cited example of this, but it’s not what it seems to be. On first glance it seems that women are paid only 79 cents to a man’s dollar, and

Equality has been a topic of major discussion in the last decade. Equality, which definition consists of the state of being equal or the same, has not had a major impact on gender pay. Men are known to make more money than women simply based on gender. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was supported by President John F. Kennedy to cease the gender pay gap and allow women equal rights in wages as men. Although, it has been fifty four years since The Equal Pay Act of 1963 went into effect, it seems as if the idea for equal pay for women is still not only a topic for debate, but also an issue for women that needs to be resolved.

The extensive studies conducted over the past 50 years on gender based wage gap show that even though the gap has narrowed over the years, it still irrefutably exists. The laws such as The Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibit gender based wage discrimination, and The Civil Rights Act, helped reduce the wage gap over the years but did not help eradicate it. Numerous studies and scholarly research continue to show the differences in the earnings of men and women, for equal work. Figure 1 shows the wage discrimination from the 1960s to the year 2015.

Even though men and women who work in the same work place doing the same exact job should be getting the same exact pay, also known as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, this matter is still a constant battle. For example, women earned 79 cents for every dollar that a man earns (whitehouse.gov). This statistic, referred to as the gender gap, has been reoccurring for decades and although the numbers have changed throughout the years, the gap

Gender pay gaps are defined as the average difference between men’s and women’s aggregate hourly earnings. One of the largest driving factors of the gender wage gap is the fact that men and women, on average, work in different industries and occupations. Women in every state experience the pay gap, but in some states it is worse than others. The pay gap affects women from all backgrounds, at all ages, and of all levels of educational achievement. In 2014, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 79 percent of what men were paid which is a gap of 21 percent. The gap has narrowed since the 1970s due to women 's progress in education and workforce participation and to men 's wages rising at a slower rate. The progress has stalled in recent years and the pay gap does not appear likely to go away on its own.

The most common assumption about the wage gap is that it is the difference between the median salaries of all working women and all working men. This statement is underrated. The gender wage gap exists within the same occupation. According to The New York Times, the differences in pay is greater in higher-paying fields, such as business, law, and medicine (Miller, Pay Gap Is Because of Gender, Not Jobs; Miller, Pay Gap Is Because of Gender, Not Jobs). Wages should be determined by skill. If women can hold the same jobs as men, they are clearly as qualified as men. The value of human capital is usually measured by education (Hall). In the United States, 60% of people with master’s degrees and 52% of doctorates are women (Chamie). Clearly, women