The Wage Gap

Researchers have proposed a variety of explanations for systematic gender inequality in the workplace. Cultural benefits, the actions of male employees, the actions of the female employees, and the actions of the employer can contribute to intentional or unintentional gender discrimination (Ngo, Foley, Wong, & Loi, 2003). It has also been mentioned that women make less money because their work environment is generally safer than the stereotypical male work environment; childcare, cashiers, and secretary positions as opposed to firefighters, truck drivers and construction workers (Parcheta, Kaifi, & Khanfar, 2013). Perhaps the most dominant reasoning for women receiving less pay is the carrying over of biological roles into the workplace. Female employees often take time off to have a family, take care of a family, and are the primary caregiver of said family.

A majority of women across the world are highly accountable for home duties, and child rearing, while men on the other hand are bound for working in higher paid salary jobs. As of a result of this, inequality amongst genders has turned into a controversy in the workplace. And due to this gender inequality, women have been led to poorly paid gender typed positions. The gender pay gap negatively impacts individuals and some elements that play a major role in this issue are: work experience, independent skills, specific length of time at a company, and the level of education the person has obtained. However, the

Traditional gender roles (men performing instrumental tasks and women performing expressive tasks) are viewed as important not only for the individual but also for the economic and social order of society. Failure to maintain the traditional division of labor is believed to lead to destruction of family life as well as higher rates of crime, violence, and drug abuse. Human capital theorists claim that sex differences in promotion rates are due to sex differences in commitment, education, and experience; women are believed to have less to offer employers. Even if these differences exist, this position ignores the fact that women are in a system of inequality, where social expectations prevent them from having qualifications that are similar to men. The conflict perspective emphasizes men’s control over scarce resources. The gendered division of labor within families and in the workplace results from male control of and dominance over women and resources. Differentials between men and women may exist in terms of economic, political, physical, and/or interpersonal power. Men remain the head of household and control the property. Also, men gain power through their predominance in the most highly paid and prestigious occupations and the highest elected offices. Liberal/Equal Rights Feminists – seek equal access for females within the current social system; focus is on equality of opportunity (e.g., civil rights and occupational equality). Radical/Transformative Feminists –

Sadly, women today are still treated as inferior to men, especially in the workforce. Women are being paid less than men for the same quality of work and it is simply unacceptable. It is 2016, not the 1950’s,

Women are generally responsible for caregiving (children and elders), volunteer activities, domestic duties, and social reproduction at an average rate of 2:1 (50 hours per week) compared with men (25 hours per week), regardless of how much paid work they are committed to (Milan, Keown, & Urquijo, 2015). Men are freer to pursue paid opportunities (and investments in human capital) and women are restricted by unpaid obligations, which perpetuates inequity. Some solutions to gain equity include social welfare reform programs, universal/affordable dependents’ care programs, and the shift of unpaid duties to men, as sociologist Nancy Fraser (1997) theorizes in After the Family Wage: A Postindustrial Thought

First of all, the gender pay is a real problem in the world, despite what many think. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the gender pay gap is “the difference between the amounts of money paid to women and men, often for doing the same work”. This is important because many people think that the gender wage gap does not exist, even though it clearly does. Another reason why this is important is because many people argue that the gender wage gap exists because women have lesser-paying jobs, when a lot of the time it happens between men and women working the same job. Many people do not realize what the gender pay gap actually is, and they form an opinion of it before they know what it really is.

of Pay Inequality.” states,“There are policies that could help diminish women’s pay deficit by increasing flexibility in the workplace and easing women’s family burden.”(nytimes.com) Even if women have to leave for childbirth, just as Eduardo Porter’s article “Motherhood Still a Cause of Pay Inequality,” explains there are ways and policies that people could lower the wage gap by creating flexibility at work and reduce the responsibility of family like childbirth. In reality, even though childbirth is a factor for the wage gap it can become reduced and solved.

However, I didn’t understand that race and race-ethnicity and location played such big role as well. Saudi Arabia’s has the biggest wage gap where women earn 16 percent of men’s income and Hungary has the smallest gap where women can earn 94 percent of men’s salaries (Ginger World pg. 182). In the U.S women earn about 81 percent of men's income. This is an improvement from the 1970s when women only earned 51 percent. However, this is a result mainly of men’s wage galling instead of women gaining (Gendered Worlds pg. 185). Women are also facing the “glass ceiling” effect, in which they cannot catch up to the higher level of management due to artificial barriers based on attitude or organizational bias (Genders Worlds qtd Martin pg. 187.) Women also face “sticky floors” where there are in a way stuck doing certain low-paying jobs. For example, women working in maquiladoras in Mexico (Gendered worlds pg. 188). Token women are also looked down Upson whereas men find preferential treatment and actually face rescuer to move up (Gendered Worlds pg. 185). The wage gap between women and men had not only resulted from discrimination, but also from backhanded tactics which seem to lift women, but are actually putting them down, gender segregation of the labor market, and job ladders (Gendered Worlds pg. 193-195.) In the work force, there are various factors which impede women from being equal with men. In reticent at the end of employment, there are also differences which hinder women. Sinc3 men on average make more than women they are able to get the maximum benefits and they also average 35 years of employment while women average only 12 years which also cuts down their eligibility for funds (Gendered worlds qtd Harington-Meyer pg.

Half of the whole workforce in the United States is made up of women, yet their average pay is more than twenty percent less than a male counterpart (“Pay”)(Claire). If they do ask for a raise, many employers deem them as untrustworthy though many men are more respected. (Claire). Women in the United States make only seventy-eight cents to every man’s dollar (“Pay”). Yet, 49,000,000 children in the U.S. today rely on a female to provide them with food, clothing, and other necessities (“Did”). Women being paid less is caused because of sexism, the history of our nation, and small details that employers find relevant enough to lower a woman’s pay.

Diversity in the workplace is forever growing: Yes, we have made significant progress hiring people of different races, orientations and religious believes, however gender inequality is still a major issue. Why is it that woman with the same experience doing the same work, the same hours, with the same qualifications are (in some professions) paid less than men? We all have the right to work and have the same employment opportunities as each other. How can we justify denying women of this right? This is blatant discrimination? Despite the equal pay act of 1963 saying that it is illegal for employers to pay men more than women, a study from 2016 by The Independent shows that on

Women nowadays have opportunities that were not obtainable in past decades but must overcome, or in most cases overlook, the barrier of being punished in the long run for simply being a woman; “gender differences in starting salaries are a significant contributor to long-term earning differentials between men and women” (Bowels and Babcock). It seems to me that in the workforce, a woman is a person just as a man is a person, if that person gets the job done right, he or she should be paid for doing so, if not, that person receives repercussions. The influence of gender on this issue is very curious as to why it is even a factor in the first place.According to “melanievarnell.wordpress.com” Doing research on the equal work equal pay topic has aroused many questions and proposed solutions, but the lingering query is why employers are still enabling this workplace behavior and discrimination in the 21st century. An article titled, “Equal Work for Equal Pay”: Not Even College Helps Women, was written by “Korva Coleman”; who claims that women are worth less than men when entering the workforce after completing a college degree. Throughout the article, Coleman supports her claim using different studies’ results that “show when men and women attend the same kind of college, pick the same major and accept the same kind of job, on average, the woman will still earn 82 cents to every dollar

Did you know that the wage gap is affected by more than just wages? Until the Enlightenment of Europe in the 1400s, women were viewed as less than men. They were not expected to work or be in any leadership positions. Now, the modern feminist movement is gaining momentum in raising the equality of women by increasing access to information about inequalities women face and hosting protests. Despite their success, women still face inequalities, especially in the work force. Women’s lack of access to equal employment opportunities leads to a wage disparity, for which political solutions have been implemented without success.

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.

It is not up for debate whether women are discriminated against in the workplace, it is evident in census data; in 2013, among full-time, year-round workers, women were paid 78 percent of what men were paid. It is said that 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.

This reflects the undervaluation of women's work and skills, even in today's cosmopolitan workplaces. Also, in developing countries women are paid only 60 - 70% of men's earnings, and there are more women in seasonal jobs. It has also been argued that sexism prevails in domestic work as most housework worldwide is still undertaken by women. Sexism is not only indicated in the pay gap.