Income inequality is a big ongoing problem in the United States. It has a big effect on what America was all about, the American dream. The American dream that everyone is equal and has equal opportunities. Although a big part of what goes on in the Untied States that just doesn’t fit the American dream; women are unequal in the work place. They are put under what is known as the “Glass Ceiling”. Women do not get promoted in the work place and aren’t getting equal pay as men. This also leads to wag gap between the men and women. Both create income inequality for women and affect their American Dream. There is a long history of women having to deal with the “Glass Ceiling”. Over time woman have made progress but more progress is needed to make things equal. Women suffer from income inequality because of the “Glass Ceiling” and wag gap, thus going against the American Dream.
The American dream started out as everyone being equal and everyone being able to have equal opportunities. Or as Truslow Adams said “ is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement, regardless of social class or circumstances of birth”(King 572-573). This is the way America was planed to be like, no one zeroed out and everyone equal. In one way or another this has never been completely true, there has always been some sort of inequality. Right from the start we had slavery, degrading African Americans and not giving them equal rights, as a white man would have. That lasted for a long time and then the great depression was next, creating income inequality, killing the economy and ruining the job field for the average working man, and now a day...
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...I Press ; Arlington, Va. : Independent Women's Forum, 1999. Print.
Summary: the book talks about the wage gap and where women sit in business and how they are becoming more equal.
Comment: I will use this information to speak about women’s inequalities in the work place.
9. Casserly, Meghan. “The Geography Of The Gender Pay Gap: Women’s Earnings By State”. Forbes.com. Forbes, Sept 19, 2013. Web. Nov 22, 2013.
Summary: The wage differences between men and women and how it differs between states.
Comment: More information of how women’s pay stacks up against men’s.
10. Norris, Floyd. “By Gender and by Age, an Unequal Recovery”. The New York Times, Feb 8, 2013. Web. Nov 22, 2013.
Summary: talks about how over job recovery jobs are being created more for men and not women.
Comment: in formation I will use to show job inequality with women compared to men.
The American Dream is the idea that everyone is able to prosper and achieve success through a system of equality and hard work. The American Dream is very attainable; at least that is what America would like the general public to believe. America has built this image of a promise land filled with unlimited resources and endless opportunities, which portrays an equal society where almost everyone is guaranteed to succeed. In reality this American Dream promoted by America is a lie for many Americans. For average Americans it is possible to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps”, work hard, and achieve the American Dream but only to a small extent because of the inequality in America which is attributed to America’s systems of socioeconomic
...ncine D., and Lawrence M. Kahn. "The Gender Pay Gap: Have Women Gone as Far as
Women face many obstacles as they climb their career’s hierarchy and for many different reasons their wage is comparably less than that of males. After the movements toward equality in the workplace, many think that sex discrimination isn’t present anymore. However, many still believe that the glass ceiling hasn’t shattered and still possesses a barrier for many women in the labor force. The glass ceiling and the wage gap exist for various reasons but, like many other women leaders, women can break the glass and abolish the gap.
While the median weekly pay for women rose in the past decades, it is still largely inferior to the median weekly pay of men employed in the same jobs. This difference of pay also puts an additional burden on women who are expected to stay home when emergencies arise. They cannot in some cases pay for daycare or rely on their companies’ understanding that someone has to take care of the family obligations. In result, they are penalized when comes the time to find candidates for promotion and are seen as not as dependable as their male counterparts. Finally, women face a social bias against them that encompass gender, appearance and race. It effectively punishes them for reasons that are out of their own control and not related to their job performance and skills. Laws against gender-based discrimination, more flexible workplace arrangements and a change in our culture regarding women may help fight discrimination and help women reach their full potential in the workforce. By starting to allow for more flexibility, paying women on a comparable scale than the one used for men, and support women in their desire to take care of their families, corporations could set the tone for a fairer treatment of women in the
“In just about every state in the country, millennial women are more likely than millennial men to have a college degree, yet millennial women also have higher poverty rates and low earnings than millennial men” (Clark “In Every U.S. State, Women, including Millennials, Are More Likely than Men to Live in Poverty, Despite Gains in Higher Education”). Women are more likely to be below the poverty level because of age, race and religion. More so because they are women. “Since the 1980’s, fertility rates have steadily declined around the world. In the United States, the fertility rate is 1.9” (Josh “Gender Inequality and Women in the Workplace”). Women are not having as many babies as they used to. The United States has a lower birth rate because some females are trying to compete for a chance in the workforce. “Companies with three or more women on the Board of Directors average twenty-eight times more money” (Weisul “Women make companies more generous”). Women earn companies more money, but only 24 percent of CEO’s in the United States are women. If more women were hired for “higher up” careers, then most likely that company will make more money overall. As a result, inequality is not a new concept. It has been around for a very long time. It is slowly changing, but women want to change sooner rather than
While all Americans have the right to an equal opportunity to live their American Dream, not everyone is given their equal opportunity. The American Dream has become the American Daydream. Everyone wants a good education, financial stability, and the freedom to choose their own lifestyle. Realistically, it has become a vision that lies far in the distance, just out of reach, where it remains for most. But it all depends on the person you ask. The American Dream is individualized, meaning everyone has a different view on what they think the American dream is. Some have a more optimistic view, saying things like “The American Dream is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive, and passion, it’s possible to achieve the American Dream” (Tommy
The lower middle class no longer has the capability of moving up into the upper middle class of American society. On top of that, it is seeing its own class diminish slowly. Social mobility, the main component of the American Dream, has been all but eliminated at this point. It has been skewed as to the upper tier of society remaining the only people capable of stability and mobility within society. Income and property have both been skewed towards the upper tier of society. Hence, the American dream is one that is slowly becoming one that must be afforded and not
There are nearly as many women as there are men working, yet, as it was discovered in 2011, on average, a woman will only earn seventy-seven cents for every dollar that a man earns. Women owned businesses make up for over a quarter of all national businesses and earn more than one point two trillion dollars (“Assessing the Past, Taking Stock of the Future” 6). Since many women are now becoming are the primary sources of income in the household, making less that a man does not only negatively affect families, but also the overall economy suffers as well. These women, among many others, are the ones who end up purchasing the supplies that go toward improving communities and stimulating the economy. There is no reason that the general public should stand for this. Women should be treated equally to men in today’s American society based on their biological compositions, psychological profiles and contributions to history.
National Centre for Social and economic Modelling. (2009). The Impact of a sustained gender wage gap on the economy:Report to the Office for Women. New York: Department of Families, Community Services, Housing and Indigenous Affairs.
The issue of gender inequality will never truly be solved in the United States. This arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through hormonal differences, chromosomes, and brain structures. Gender inequality is defined as unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on gender. One of the reasons for gender inequality is income disparities. Another reason is because of the positions in the workplace. Thirdly, the reason is because of beliefs that one another has. For these reasons is why these situations should be examined to get to the root of the problem.
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
In today’s society, Women perform similar jobs to men. Whether it’s blue or white collar jobs, women are always present and thriving for success balancing a life of business and family. In the job market, some are graduates of the best schools and have interned at the best firms, but are still not compensated as equally as men. Following the recent comments by the CEO of Microsoft concerning women asking for raises and how they should trust the system to install equality, the issue seems to be still present, and women’s work is not rewarded similarly to men’s.
Women were always in a low position in U.S history compared to men. Due to the pay gap between men and women, it must make women lose status in the future. The gap will be haunted by people’s hearts, which allow some terrible ideas about unfairness existing in people’s minds. Let us supposed a woman, she works very hard and spends a great deal of time working, but her salary is still lower than men. Because of this, her motivation on working will be lost. Additionally, the population of men and women is equal. In this respect, we cannot bear the gender pay gap. In short, the gender pay gap has some shortcomings either.
As a result, the only logical solution to the problem would be to give women equal pay as men. This clearly would mean that women are being given higher up positions in the corporate setting. It is troubling to think that this issue has continued to go unsolved in the twenty-first century. What is even more alarming, is that there would be no negative repercussions to ending the wage gap. The wage gap is completely unfair and has clearly given working women a disadvantage in the workplace. This solution would help working women in society because they would finally feel equal to men in the workplace. If we keep allowing this to happen, it will only hinder the progress of other women’s and other progressive issues. It is time to end the stigma on working women in our society by ending the women’s wage gap once and for
“Statistical research by Catalyst demonstrate that women account for 46.7 percent of the U.S. labor force” (Evans, 2011, p.62), but gender bias continues to distort employers hiring decisions intensifying the challenges women endure in the workforce. Controlling bias has been a goal of American society resulting in federal, state, and local laws preventing hiring discrimination in the workplace. There is a natural tendency for superiors to prefer to work together with members of the same sex or hire applicants close to their age. Male leaders are likely to hold stereotypes about women that influence employment decisions not based on an applicant’s ability, but rather categorization. Management often perceives male applicants as the only candidate or the best fit for the job, even though the position does not require masculine characteristics. Koch et al. (2015) highlighted that highly qualified women are seen “just as competent as men” however; these women are still unlikely to be hired over their less qualified male counterparts. Laws prohibit prospective employers from asking women about family responsibilities outright, nevertheless this subject often surfaces during the interview process. As a result, hiring personnel pass over experienced female candidates when they suspect women struggle between the conflicting demands of family and career responsibilities. Men have quite different roles and responsibilities regarding family giving the...