The Gender Wage Gap

Different reasons are given in order to explain the gender wage gap. Some of reasons include: Women work for a shorter collective time in order to give birth and raise their families. Women’s work has less value than that of their male counterparts. The sexual division of labor, which assigns tasks to individuals on the basis of gender, creates blue and pink collar work and, thus, the devaluing of women’s labor. Aside from these valid points, the pay gap cannot be explained away. Women’s professions continue to be associated with smaller wages than men’s professions. Teaching, for example, is a female-dominated

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.

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.

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.

The National Bureau of Economic Research points to labor market discrimination and overall trends in wage structure to explain why the wage gap exists. Discrimination in the labor market may lower women’s incentives to invest in their qualifications. The second factor of trends in wage structure refers to the terms the market sets for various skills or for employment in particular occupations or industries (Blau & Kahn, 2001). Other factors contributing to the wage gap have since been considerably ameliorated, factors including gender gaps in education, skills, experience, as well as occupational segregation and career breaks (Kulow, 2013). According to Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations from the stimulus material, “The wages of labor in different employments vary according to the probability or improbability of success in them.” He then brings up an example of how mechanic jobs, such as carpentry and masonry, have almost certain success, meanwhile, success is very uncertain in the liberal professions. In a study done by the United States Department of Labor, the most common jobs for women consist of education administrators, teacher assistants, social workers, and secretaries- all the “liberal” professions. For men, their most common jobs include managers, carpenters, and laborers. The data, supported by Smith’s findings, prove that men do earn more than women, creating a gap in wages.

The gender wage gap has been around since women began having jobs and careers. Though in the beginning the gender wage gap was purely do to discrimination by social stereotypes, now it has become more complicated than that. The issue today has evolved into a complex issue which combines our American culture with business economics. As a result, some are skeptical of the issue and some are very adamant in their beliefs. The issue encompasses not only gender stereo types but also educational, government policies and business’s best practices.

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.

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.

In the 21st Century the number of women enrolling in higher education institutions is surpassing the numbers of men enrolled. The graduation rates of women from high school and higher education are most often higher than for men. The number of women graduates from most professional occupations, including higher paying medicine, law and business, will exceed the number of men graduates in the near future. In numerous occupational areas with a majority of women graduates, salaries already surpass salaries in occupational areas with a majority of men graduates.

The gender wage gap issue has been around since the old days. Now, it has been reported that the gender wage gap has been widening among the young, fresh and newly graduated educated students.

As stated by many feminists, celebrities and politicians the gender wage is a problem that is justified by the statement that women make 77 cents to every dollar men make. If, for the same work why don’t businesses hire only women? Wages are one of the biggest expenses for small and large businesses, so if they only hired women then they would be saving 23 cents to every dollar they would have to pay. The statistic that there is 77 cents to every dollar isn’t the whole story around the supposed gender wage gap. While statistics are true and very valuable, they are also notorious for being a means that people use to make false and misleading arguments to persuade a large group of people. The gender wage gap is not

Even with women’s increasing workplace successes over the passing years, the gender wage gap continues on. Scholars and researchers descriptions of the pay differences are explained at vaguely two different levels. There are individual differences in workplace results that are sometimes credited to gender specific preferences. At the college level, institutional practices may hinder women, or certain laws in place can balance out the results of these practices. We’re making an effort to rise above this separation by examining the wage gap at both levels; our study plans to contribute to filling this gap.

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

It is important to address the systemic inequalities of the gender pay gap. To do this, this essay will use Bacchi (2006) approach to analyse the text “Speech to HRINZ: The reasons for the Gender Pay Gap” by MP Paula Bennett. This essay will illustrate the theoretical perspective of liberal feminism to show the understanding of the problem, and the solutions of the gender pay gap. This essay will also look at two other theoretical perspectives, social democratic, and anti-racism and discuss their viewpoints and solutions towards the problem.