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.
Women continue to face disadvantages in the workplace in regards to not receiving equal pay as well. There are many instances where women have the same or more qualifications to do a job than their male counterparts but do not receive the same pay. This difference in pay is not only related to gender differences but also racial differences. Women employees of different racial backgrounds tend to earn less money than their white female and male counterparts. Many women of color often face discrimination when applying to jobs and are overlooked for a position despite having the qualifications to do the work. When they are hired to these occupations they are not receiving the same pay as their white female counterparts. This double bind that minority women face within the work place continues to lead to economic hardships. Regarding women in the workplace in general, due to society’s high regard for men they are often not promoted to positions of authority or receive equal pay because people assume that women are inferior workers. (Buchanan, p205-207)
Gender stereotypes are one of the most common encountered on a daily basis. The infamous ‘Glass Ceiling’ still exists in many areas of the professional world, restricting valid promotions simply based on gender. This type of concept can be verified by looking at comparative weekly wages of other professionals in a variety of industries. Most people will generally see female dominated occupations, such as nurse, teacher and secretary as requiring feminine personality traits and physical attributes for success; whereas male dominated occupations such as doctor, lawyer, and business executive are seen to require male personality traits for success (Sanderson, 2010, p. 344).
getting equal pay for the same jobs and not getting hired for other reasons. The women in
A different quote from a different reading from class that closely relates and further demonstrates this problem is about unequal pay. The quote reads “Many sociologists point to sex segregation, or the concentration of men and women in different occupations, as an important cause of the gender gap in earnings” (Giddens, Duneier, Appelbaum, Carr, 269, 270). It is obviously not fair that women and men get paid differently because of sex segregation. It should not matter if someone is a male or female. If the person is doing what they are supposed to be doing, I believe the pay should be the same between the
Men were the only people for many years to have jobs to maintain the family. I believe because women were so late in gaining equal rights they, till this day they are underpaid. It is unfair that both sexes can have the same qualifications and job and yet women still fall short in salary pay. Even when it comes to promotions bosses tend to choose men because it gives their company a better imagine, a more “manly” image. A man in front of a company is said to show more strength and business knowledge rather than a women. People tend to be somewhat skeptical of what a women is capable of handling in their jobs as well as in a everyday life situation. Women aren’t as involved in meetings are given any challenging tasks because women are seen as incapable to handle it. During the hiring process there tends an abundance of discrimination. Women are typically chosen for women-based jobs like cleaning or nursing. Men are typically chosen for manly jobs like business and construction. Women able to to the same jobs so it’s not like they don’t try, they just aren’t very likely in getting the job. When it comes to the hiring process sexism tends to be programmed into people 's brains.
Also the inequality that has been brought up with women where women are doing a lot more work
The glass ceiling is something still very present in today’s society. Women in the workforce are constantly trying to break through barriers set by society to break away from stereotypes. Many women work twice as hard and still get paid significantly less than their male co-workers. They experience sex typing from a young age being pushed to study more “feminine” occupations, such as nursing. While on the other hand men are encouraged to seek positions of power and leadership. If a woman decides to choose an occupation that demands the use of intellectual thinking, they are given boundaries to which they are limited. Women are seen as the weaker sex and have been severely over diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or any other type of mental illness. We see this issue addressed in Virginia Woolf’s “Professions for Women” and Susanna Kaysen’s memoir “ Girl, Interrupted”. Women are taught to that they need to display certain behavior and uphold a perfect appearance in order to be taken seriously in society. Charlotte Perkins Stetson uses the art of writing to bring us along the emotional ride of a woman who’s true feelings were labeled unreliable in her story “ The Yellow Wall-Paper”. For decades women have struggled with being treated as subordinates and this continues today. We are able to see the unjust treatment of women reflected in their salaries, promotions, and general treatment in the workforce, specifically the medical field.
Women have generally been paid less than men in most jobs worldwide. This is also
If you attended college to pursue a career you are passionate about and, upon graduation, find out that, because of your gender, you won’t make as much money in that field, how would you feel? How would you feel if you put in the effort to earn a Bachelor’s Degree and found out that someone of the opposite gender holds a high school diploma and earns almost the same salary as you? Or that you could do the same job as someone else but you’ll only earn 77% of every dollar that that person earns because of your gender (Corbett and Hill 2). These are the realities that women face when they realize gender discrimination affects their earning potential.
Ellen Ullman, a strong, passionate woman, grows up with an ambitious dream of reaching high and aiming for the stars. Defying the social standard, she immerses herself into the male-dominated career of computer programming where she immediately runs straight into a barrier separating her from the path to contentment and success in the workplace. Unlike many women, Ullman found a way to shatter the glass ceiling and rise above, but she cannot discover how to end sexism for all other women across the nation. America is said to be the land of equal-opportunity, but working women are still experiencing great levels of discrimination in the workplace. The root of sexism comes from an abstract way of thinking—stereotypes. Throughout history and still today, the American culture promotes the stereotypes of women being viewed only as the care holders of the family that raise the children and tidy up the house. Sexism does not just affect a few women, because across the nation and for many years, there have been an abundance of accounts of women suffering from discrimination. Women are discriminated against by receiving less pay and subservient jobs due to the stereotypes used against them in the workplace which, in turn, damages both women and businesses directly. In order to push forward through this great injustice, people must start at the elementary level to extinguish stereotypes and allow America’s children to grow with an open mind.
Another problem that arose is the pay gap, which is when women and people of color are being paid less than white men. “The percentage of female earnings has never exceeded 74% of male wages annually.” Between 1978 and 1999 the weekly earnings of women full-time workers increased from 61 percent to 76.5 percent of men 's earnings. However, the ratio appears to have plateaued in the mid-1990s. There are any differences in the treatment of men and women. They arise from average differences between the two groups in the expected value of productivity. Sometimes women leave jobs to start a family so companies do not want to waste their resources training women who may eventually leave. They do not want the responsibility of having to pay someone for a medical leave if a woman gets pregnant. They also will realize that eventually she will need to start working less or taking more days off because of her child or children. Which is completely normal, however, people do not see it as so.
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.
Women are not equal to men in the workplace because of unequal pay, a lack of women in managerial positions, and sexual harassment in the work place.
It is possible that the wage gap could narrow if a more substantial proportion of women held higher-paying careers. Currently, some of the best-paid job opportunities available are in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, but women are vastly underrepresented in these roles (Beede et al. 1). This gender gap is caused by a multitude of factors related to sexism in STEM, which starts as early as childhood and lasts through college and into a woman’s career. The common factor in all of these issues is education – how women are treated by parents, teachers, and peers regarding science and math courses is key to the career that they choose and opportunities they receive (Dasgupta and Stout 21). Sexism in STEM education creates a gender gap, which in turn contributes to the gender wage gap by pushing women out of lucrative employment.