The State of Equality

Female Discrimination in the Labor Force In the past decades there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women participating in the labor force. This expansion has unfortunately shown how women are still being treated as inferior citizens when comparing their wages and the jobs they are hired for to that of men. Many women in similar occupations as men, and having the same qualifications are only paid a fraction of what their male counterparts are paid. The only reasonable explanation that can be found for this income gap is discrimination. This unfair treatment shown throughout the handouts illustrate how far people still have to go before equal treatment becomes standard.

The Women’s Equal Rights Movement has made dramatic progress in the last one hundred years. As a result, a woman can now vote, choose almost any career, and defend her human right to happiness. But, in spite of the progress made in the area of equal rights, wage problems in the workplace still exist which deny women equal pay for equal work. SUCCESSES Women are closing the gender gap in workplace and higher education. They are starting to climb the corporate ladder and are moving into managerial positions.

Women have made great strides in the workplace, but still inequality persists. The average, women only makes 77 cents to every dollar a man earns. Needless to say, there’s a gender gap that needs to be rectified. Women have caught up with men in terms of education. In fact, in the United States and a number of other countries, women now actually exceed men in educational achievement.

Women are being treated as the lesser sex and that has now impacted how they are paid. Mary Ann Cooper wrote in her article Wage Gap for Women: Both Sides of the Story, The Center for American Progress uses hard statistics to make its case. It says women who work full time year round continue to earn only about 77 percent of what men earn. The gap between the median wage for a man and that of a woman in 2010 was $10.784 per year. The gender wage gap gets larger with age and builds up over time.

Closing the wage gap between men and women is a continuing struggle today in nations all over the world. In many occupations women are paid less overall than their male counterparts. One nation, however, is making strides to bring this disparity in wages into the light. British law will soon require large companies to publish information about the salaries paid to their male and female employees. While this is a great step forward in recognizing the gender pay gap, many women also face many other obstacles to getting equal pay such as the “Mommy Tax” that reporter Ann Crittenden talks about in her piece of the same name (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 337).

As more women decide to go to college and earn degrees, there is still a disparity in income in the labor market. Forty percent of the pay gap that exists cannot be explained by occupation, race, or experience. When analyzing gender differentials in pay, economists commonly focus on male-female differences in skills and on differences in the treatment of equally qualified men and women (i.e., discrimination) (Blau & Kahn, 1994). Women are a nurturing type so they often land jobs or careers in the “pink” collar field of teaching, nursing, and taking care of children to name a few. Most often the physical abilities and attributes that women possess is the driving factor in career choice.

These allegations demonstrate the gender wage gap and the glass ceiling, the inevitable barrier preventing women from attaining top management positions. In fact, around 75% of the hourly supervisors were women, but only 33% of the store managers were women (Carnes and Radojevich-Kelley 74). Like Wal-Mart, many other businesses exhibit gender inequality and gender discrimmination. The glass ceiling acts as a substantial obstacle to gender equality, and it should be resolved through entrepreneurship. Despite the huge strides in gender equality that women have made over the past century, patriarchy still persists in the United States.

Regretfully wage inequality is a global problem that occurs even in countries with the largest economies. According to the Catalyst survey, adjusting for initial position, women are paid on average $4,600 less than men. Even when controlling all factors that may differ between men and women, such as ex... ... middle of paper ... ...’s objective was to implement diversity and retain more women and minorities in Besfood Company. Women have qualities that make them more adaptable to the emotional climate, to handling conflicts, to think about the development of people and their human needs, compassion, care of the planet, commitment and responsibility. Who better than a woman who is prepared to deal with responsibilities in leadership positions with unique features to handle such matters.

Consequently, women who choose to divide their time between work and their family life will undoubtedly earn less. In fact, women ages 27-33 who have no children actually earn 98 percent of men’s wages according to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. 1 As these examples suggest, discriminatory pay practices persist, leading to lower wages for women, even when they perform the same job as men. 2 It is difficult to decide what can be done to close the wage gap between men and women. However, several steps have been taken to ensure equal opportunities for both sexes.

Education and experience are considered “human capital” by economist. The knowledge and skills learned on the job make employees more productive. Historically women were less likely to go to college and graduate, however according to the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education Statistics Between 1970 and 2001, women went from being the minority to the majority of the U.S. undergraduate population, increasing their representation from 42 percent to 56 percent of undergraduates. If these trends continue women will make up the larger segment of the skilled labor force. Educational attainment is particularly important in closing the wage gap.