Why Women Earn The Same As Men By Timmy Kennedy

In American society today there is an imbalance in the gender income gap between men and women in the work force. Many factors such as discrimination, productivity, educational background and disproportional hours worked contribute to this ongoing challenge. While many are skeptical, others remain to have strong beliefs that women and men are treated equally. In most professions according to Glynn “women only earn seventy seven cents for every dollar earned by men” (2014). Although, the seventy seven cents figure does not accurately reflect gender discrimination, it does capture some discrimination,

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 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.

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.

To this day, women get paid less due to the motherhood penalty, educational opportunities, women’s roles in the society historically, choice of job, and more. All of these components affect women’s wages and the superiority of men in the labor force. One side of the argument states that women rightfully deserve the downside of this wage gap, and others posses the opinion that all workers should be treated equally. Historically, gender roles have gotten in the way of equality in pay. However, people also believe that women choose jobs that do not offer an abundance of pay. Factors such as the motherhood penalty have skewed the pay gap as well. While some people believe that women should be treated equally regarding pay, since they are doing

For the first time in history women had surpassed men in the paid labor force. Yet, instead of provoking an equality among the sexes, the figures play no statistical significance, as women still try to bridge the gap between their inequality among their male counterparts. One apparent setback for women in the workplace is their unequal payment, “Women workers are still paid less than men, currently about-three quarters of mens income if they work full time and year round”(Institute for Womens’s Policy Research, 2010). Although there women are beginning to integrate into vastly male populated jobs throughout the labor force “… women in America today earn 78 cents to a man’s dollar, according to the U.S Census Bureau, and have struggled for decades to achieve pay for equal work” (Riley 2). Not only has this pay gap significantly effected the nature of women throughout the county, it has also violated the bill that Congress passed called the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The Equal Pay Act was signed in order to establish a more sound and equal treatment among the sexes. It noted that an employer was unable to discriminate employees on grounds of gender, yet as figures denote today, this bill seems to not possess enough jurisdiction over the wage gap. The wage gap has contributed to various problems within the United States, especially among single mothers who do not have a supporting male figure within their household.

The gender wage gap has been a nationwide problem since women were able to enter the workforce. Women have begun to speak out more about the issue and evaluate what they can do to change the industries and how they personally present themselves to help this change. Currently there is a wide range of opinions on this issue, with some saying it does not exist while others think it will ruin the economy if not fixed immediately. This makes it more difficult to address the problem and predict how it will be in the future; however, all sides of the spectrum are becoming more aware of what the gender wage gap means and what they can do to change it. This paper will analyze the different stances on the extent of this social issue as well as the current practices being used to increase knowledge and equalize pay for all.

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

The gender wage gap is the difference in men and women’s annual salaries and can be found in every kind of job at all times. The gap stems from prejudice against women workers, resulting in women receiving less pay than men do for the same work. As of 1999, women make up sixty percent of the workforce and are the main income provider for four of every ten families. Yet, in 2015, the median annual income for women was $40,742 and $51,212 for men. That is eighty percent of what men are earning, or a twenty percent wage gap. In the past half-century there has not been a consistent decrease in the wage gap: in 1960 women were earning sixty-four percent of men’s annual income, in 1978 they were earning fifty-nine percent, and in 2000 they were

The pay gap between genders exhibits sexism in America yet some researchers are in denial. Warren Farrell, expert on gender issues within legislation and former board member of National Organization for Women, claims otherwise. In his book Why Men Earn More, he attributes difference in wages to females choosing human resources jobs, which pay less, and not choosing harsher jobs that pay more (Farrell). His overall point is that men sacrifice more thus companies pay more for those sacrifices. His argument only compares the genders when different job requirements alter wages, but does not mention wages of identical jobs.

The gender wage gap. This is an issue that has been kept largely quiet and does not get even half the attention it deserves. The wage gap is simply the deviation in salaries between men and women. This gap in pay is an issue that spans the globe, and effects many people, from struggling single mothers to hard working corporate women. In W.E. Jacob and Laura Finley’s article “Differences in Pay Rates Between Men and Women do not Prove the Existence of Gender Inequality” attempts to debunk the discriminatory factor of the gap and rather using factors like experience, dedication to employer, time employed, and education levels explain the gap in its entirety. On the flip side, Teresa Wiltz’s article “States attack the pay gap between men and women” focuses on the effort being made by different states to squander the gap in pay, and the story of a woman who found out she was making $10,000 less than a new hire at her company. Both articles try to achieve their purpose. Overall, the latter article is much more effective because it recalls actual experiences from a real person, and real world efforts. Meanwhile, the former article’s argument relies on beliefs and hypotheticals.

The American Association University of Women reports that the average full time workingwoman receives just 80% the salary of a man. In 1960, women made just 60% of what men made, an upward trend that can be explained “largely by women’s progress in education and workforce participation and to men’s wages rising at a slower rate”, but a trend that is not yet equal (p. 4). Hill recognizes that the choices of men and women are not always the same, whether it be in college major, or job choice, however she concludes that women experience pay gaps in virtually all levels of education and lines of work. She suggests that continuing to increase the integration of women in predominately male dominated work will help the pay gap, however, she believes that alone won’t be enough to ensure equal pay for women.

Inequality has been a dilemma for several years in countless different ways. A persistent problem with disproportion of income between women and men has been lingering within many companies in the United States. It has been said that women earn less money than men in the workplace for many different reasons. Some of these reasons are that women have not spent enough time in the office to be rewarded with raises and bonuses because they are busy with their home lives and taking care of their children, they, unlike men, have been taught to be timid and unaggressive which ultimately steers them away from requesting higher pay, or they do not meet the qualifications to receive promotions (Hymowitz, 2008). This essay is in response to On

Examples commonly cited to illustrate gender inequality are often attributed to gender, rather than other factors. The payroll gap, for instance, where “A man’s dollar is a woman’s $0.77”, is an example used commonly to highlight the pay disparity between men and women. The latter are continuously seen as “disadvantaged” and were paid less as a result of “gender inequality”. However, a 23% disparity for work wages in American businesses are considered illegal, and a lower wage set for women would entail that most of the work force would be occupied by women, since companies can save expenses by hiring women. While the pay gap is true, the disparity does not exist for the case of gender inequality, but rather, the level of commitment in the occupation, educational choices, and career positions.

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.