Unequal Pay In America

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.

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.

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.

“Imagine you 're a little girl. You 're growing up. You practice as hard as you can, with girls, with boys. You have a dream. You fight, you work, you sacrifice to get to this stage. You work as hard as anyone you know. And then you get to this stage, and you 're told you 're not the same as a boy. Almost as good, but not quite the same. Think how devastating and demoralizing that could be” Venus Williams. For years, women have worked as hard as men to get an education, get their dream job, or even get a promotion in a job they are currently at so they can earn less pay than a man and not even know it. They take on these important roles and titles as a manager or take on more jobs than they can handle to prove they are worthy as the next guy and to receive no raise or still underpaid to the guy who does not work as hard or have the same job title. However, women and men have begun to see this a problem and started to work together to make a change. Women makeup over half the workforce and are seen, if not equal, or are the breadwinner in four out of ten families (About Pay Equity & Discrimination 1). Women in the workforce should earn the same pay as men because they work hard to get an education, their race should not play into an effect, and they support a family.

Women employees make less than men in the same job position. “It is an absolute scandal that American women continue to earn just $0.77 for every dollar men earn.” (Sen. Mikulski) There should not be a gender pay gap. Workers should be given salaries based on their work ethics, degrees, and academic credentials.

Furthermore, the employment society has an unjust take on this. “Oh, female employees in a workforce? That’s a hassle to manage… We know, let’s pay them lower wages! Better yet, in some cases, let us just not hire them at all, even though they are perfectly qualified because a male worker can do it just as well.” Just as well… equally qualified... Hmm, something is not right here. Should women have to settle for lower payment rates just because of their

By the time the Equal Pay Act became a federal law in 1963, women throughout America were only making an average of 59 cents to every dollar that men earned (The Pay Gap, the Glass Ceiling). When the Equal Pay Act was enforced, Congress was focusing on the wages gap that was present for men and women who were working the same job. Therefore, women were supposed to receive “equal pay for equal work” (California Closes the Gap, par. 3) relative to the men they worked alongside with. Many companies within the private sector took advantage of the wording of this Act, citing that women were not doing “equal work” to the men, so they did not justifiably deserve “equal pay”. This is how even now, 50 years later, “persistence of a twenty percent gender pay gap” (ABA Journal, par. 1) makes it so that on a national average women are still making less than men. However, while cultural bias is one of the contributing factors, it is only

Throughout the world history and current day, discrimination is a constant battle for many people: Whether it’s gender, race, religion, appearances, or anything else that makes people unique in their own way, it happens everyday. One issue that occurs daily revolves around the women in America - the gender pay wage gap. Equally educated and trained, women who have had the same experiences as men are not earning equal pay. Women make up almost half of the work force. “In 2015, female full-time, year-round workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent” (Pay Equality). Many actresses and female athletes have been affected and gone public about this; it is important that people know why equal pay is crucial for all women, the causes of the wage gap, and how equal pay helps everyone in society. There is no myth following the gender pay wage gap - and here’s why.

The data shows that women earn only 76 cents for each dollar earned by male coworkers. Women work just as hard as men, the pay gap is too wide, and job rates are going down. Women should be getting payed the same as men.

According to Kim (2015), there has been a great deal of change to the workforce ever since the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was enacted. Since this time, there has been a huge influx of women entering into the job market, where there had not been prior to the law. This meant that during the time of the laws creation there had not been near the women receiving pay for their services like there were in the years to follow. To help modernize this change amendments needed to be added and this included the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This Act made it mandatory for employers to offer equal pay to both men and women who perform equal work (Kim, 2015, p. 648). However, since this law has been created there has been an ongoing problem with making sure it is being followed and still today there is a gender pay gap.

Men in Travis Country, and all over the United States, are almost always paid higher wages than their female coworkers for doing the same work. Women have been fighting for equal rights and equal pay since the 19th century and it is about time women and men doing the same job are paid the same amount. The solution to this is simple: pay women and men equal wages for equal work. This would seem to be common sense, but it is still something we are fighting for.

In 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act that requires everyone, regardless of their sex, get paid the same amount. This made it illegal for men or women to be paid less than the opposite sex for doing the same work. But just because it is illegal does not mean it won’t happen. In 2014, women in the United States were paid 79% of what men were paid. Since then the gap has gotten smaller

Gender equality in salary is always unfair. Men employees always receive higher wages than women employees had received. Companies would like to hire men employees compared to women employees because they believed women employees are weak and cannot competent in the workplace although they have abilities and skills. As a conclusion, our research has proven that this theory was true.

All because of this it’s started to creates tension, a woman worker doing the same job as a man but not compensated equally, for example the environment can become tense. The woman might be resentful of the difference in pay, and the male employee could feel uncomfortable even though he is not

Mike Honda once said, “Equal pay isn’t just a women’s issues; when women get equal pay, their family income rise and the whole family benefits” (Honda, n.d.). Although more businesses are supportive of closing the pay gap, it is still a problem in most established companies. There are several reasons for the pay gap, yet in many cases it is thought that the main reason is because women are less likely to negotiate their salary. Even if this is the case, companies need to be aware of their employee’s salaries to stay within their legal obligation. This is what Joe Black, the president of Acme Manufacturing, has discovered within his organization.