Gender Payage Gap Essay

When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 into law, he hoped that it would allow working women to finally earn the same amount of money as men; however, more than half a century later, men continue to out earn women in almost every field of work (Lipman para. 4). Male dominated fields tend to pay more than female dominated fields at similar skill levels. In 2012, women earned an average of $691 per week while men earned an average of $854 per week. Furthermore, the majority of women remain unaware that they are earning less than their male colleagues (Hegewisch para. 1). The gender wage gap not only harms a woman’s ability to provide for herself, it also harms many children and families. Women are now the primary caregivers
Nowadays, most women remain unaware that their employers underpay them. Women cannot argue for higher wages if they do not know they earn less than their male equivalents. Each employee sharing their salary will allow women to detect if they are earning less than their male colleagues with little difficulty. This will give women the tools needed to argue for a higher pay rate, and will help lower the wage gap. If a female worker goes to her boss with statistical evidence that she earns less than her male associates, the chances that her boss will award her a higher salary significantly increase. The law will make it almost impossible for companies to pay their male workers more than their female workers (Glynn para. 7). Furthermore, a law requiring employees to share their salaries will bring to light other forms of wage discrimination. The wage gap not only represents gender discrimination in the workplace, it also reflects the ongoing issue of racial discrimination. While white women do typically earn less than white men, they out earn the majority of female colored workers in America. The average African American female makes only 64 cents for the white man’s dollar. Additionally, Hispanic women receive only 54 cents to their white male coworker’s dollar (Hegewisch para. 9). If women of color become aware of how little they earn compared to
Employees often overestimate their coworkers’ pay when it is kept a secret. This leads to overall lower job satisfaction, which in turn hurts workplace productivity. In general, employees work more productively when pay structures are transparent and predictable (Chamberlain para 5). If employees become aware of the wages their associates earn, they will know where they stand in their company, and they will feel happier. This will lead to increased workplace efficiency and will help businesses in the United States increase their profits. Additionally, pay transparency has already helped lower the wage gap in several countries. Britain, Austria, and Belgium have all signed laws requiring employees working in the countries to report their wages. These legislations provided the pressure needed to force companies to increase working women’s wages (Lipman para. 5). PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services network, released its British employees’ wages to the public in 2013. The report shows a clear separation between the wages that male and female workers in the company earned that year. Since then, the business has proceeded to work on lowering their gender wage gap, and their pay discrepancy has significantly decreased (Lipman para. 6). A pay transparency law has already succeeded in lowering the wage