“April third has been declared by Feminist and labor groups as ‘Equal Pay Day’ because it supposedly takes 93 calendar days for women’s wages to catch up to men’s.” 3 Many people believe that sex discrimination is the main reason for the pay gap. However, several factors must be taken into consideration. On average, women earn 74 cents for each dollar earned by the male population. This number is calculated by comparing median annual earnings of men and women. But several other differences between the sexes make up for the variation in pay. Work experience, education, background, skills, and other lifestyle choices account for much of the pay gap. These factors cannot be ignored because they account for a large part of the discrepancy in wages between men and women. For example, when considering education, it is interesting to note that 14 percent of all master’s degrees earned by women were in business management. In contrast, white men earn 44 percent of the degrees. Furthermore, only 14 percent of women in business actually aspire to be a CEO, compared to 45 percent of men. 3 Lifestyle choices also contribute to the difference in wages. Many women are willing to devote more of their time and attention to parenting rather than their professions. 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. For example, the Pay Act of 1963 prohibits unequal pay for equal or substantially equal work. Also, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits wage discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. 3 In reality, it would not be feasible to lower men’s wages in order to compensate for the difference in pay. Obviously the male popu... ... middle of paper ... ...; The wage gap between men and women will not be solved overnight. Many solutions have been offered by various groups, but women continue to face discrimination which lowers their pay. However, progress is being made. In a growing number of professions such as engineering, university administration, and economics, the wage gap is almost non-existent. Additionally, many companies and other organizations have created innovative programs to open up new opportunities to women and minorities. Affirmative action has also become a critical tool for preserving women’s economic security and that of their families. Works Cited 1Belsky, Gary and Berger, Susan, “Women Could Be Big Losers if Affirmative Action Fails, “ Money August 1995. 2Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, Table 22, January 1994. 4Internet. “Differences in Economic Characteristics Account for Most of the Measured Gender Pay Gap”. The American Workplace, 1998. www.nationalparternship.org/workandfamily/workplace.htm 3 Silverman, Mark “Wages and Choices” DetroitNews.com, April 3, 1998. 5Zyman, John, “Ask a Working Woman,” Working Women’s Department National Survey Executive Summary (1997).
Men get paid higher than women although in most cases women are more educated than men. There needs to be equality. A.Problem: Despite these educational gains, women continue to lag behind men in employment, income, business ownership, research and politics. This pattern of inequality suggests that societal expectations and cultural norms regarding the appropriate roles for men and women as well as inherent biological differences between the sexes are limiting the benefits of women’s educational advantage.
There is a pay gap between men and women in the U.S. The pay gap affects women of all educations levels, and backgrounds. But white men are the largest demographic in labor forces so they possibly favor each other as opposed to women. The graph didn’t specify the type of jobs, or whether they were working parts time or fulltime. But in 2016, women working full time in the U.S. were paid 80% of what men were getting paid. There are some occupations that have not reached the equity but some have like retail, banking and real
The reality of wage differences between men and women is that above all changes women continue to earn less than men. Countless arguments have promoted that wage inequality has changed and that everyone finally receives an equal amount of pay. “For women of color, the gap is largest of all: In 2006, black and Hispanic women earned 86 and 87 cents on the white man’s dollar, respectively,” (Mcswane 2). If a woman is lucky enough she will get an equal pay compared to a man doing the same job. But it is challenging for a woman of a minority background to achieve this. Not only are women paid less because of their sex, but also because of their race. There seems to be a mentality that because someone is a woman and a minority that they cannot do the same job as men or that women do not have the same education as the men, so employers do not have to pay them the same. “When the numbers are broken down by district, they 're pretty hard to ignore. Women in Texas are being utterly screwed financially, according to the data compiled by AAWU, with women earning anywhere from 66 percent of what men do in some districts, to the top end of things, which is about 89 percent,” (Leicht 4). The proof cannot be ignored. It i...
When women are actually given the same jobs as men, they may be paid the same but typically, they are not able to reach the higher positions in the company that men do. Even with their 77 cents to a man’s dollar, “women still tend to bear a larger responsibility for child care and other household matters within families” (Mazorelle). Women are not given the opportunity to earn as much as men, and they still have to take on a majority of the responsibilities of the household.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Additionally, we believed men deserved to have higher power by getting more money than women. After some research, we think it’s not fair that women make less than men who have the same education and the same job. In the long run, it can make it hard for women to support their families. We found out that the gender pay gap is a “complex issue with many causes”, which are often inter-related. It seems that the direct cause of this issue is discrimination. We also found out that inequality starts early; just one year out of college, college-educated women working full-time earned $32,000 compared to $42,000 for college-educated men working
Women have faced gender wage discrimination for decades. The gender pay gap is the difference between what a male and a female earns. It happens when a man and a woman standing next to each other doing the same job for the same number of hours get paid different salaries. On average, full-time working- women earn just “77 cents for every dollar a man earn.” When you compare a woman and a man doing the same job, “the pay gap narrows to 81 percent (81%)” (Rosin). Fifty-one years ago, in order to stop the gender gap discrimination, Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The act states that all women should receive “equal pay for equal work”. Unfortunately, even in 2014 the gender pay gap persists and even at the highest echelons of the corporate; therefore, the equal pay act is a failure.
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).
The United States has one of the highest gender pay gaps among the developed countries. In the country, the gender pay gap is measured as the ratio of female to males yearly earning among workers in full-time, year round (FTYR) earnings. In 2009, female FTYR earned 77% (0.77) as much as the FTYR male workers (US Census Bureau, 2013). The history of Gender Gap earning reveals USA has made big strides towards reducing the gender pay gap from 1980. For instance, in 1980 the gender pay gap ratio was 0.62 while in 1990, the gap stood at 0.72. Further from 1990 to 2000, the gap reduced to 0.73 and then to 0.77 in 2009. Currently, the gender pay gap stands at 0.76 and continues to persist (US Census Bureau, 2013).
Wage inequalities are not a result of women’s qualifications or choices. Wage discrimination persists despite women’s increased educational attainment, greater level of experience in the workforce, and decreased amount of time spent out of the workforce raising children. • Education. Although the number of women attaining baccalaureate and advanced degrees now surpasses the number of men, in 1999 the median wages of female college graduates were $14,665 less than those of male graduates. College-educated African American women earn only $1,500 more than white male high school graduates.
Women are more than half the work force and are graduating at higher rates then men and continue to earn considerably less then men. There are several contributing factors to the gender wage gap. Women experience gender discrimination in the work force even though it’s been illegal since the Equal Pay Act in 1963. One of the challenges for women is uncovering discrimination. There is a lack of transparency in earnings because employees are either contractually prohibited or it’s strongly discouraged from being discussed. Discrimination also occurs in the restricting of women’s access to jobs with the highest commission payments, or access to lucrative clients.
A number of factors have contributed to the gap between men’s and women’s wages. These include: occupational segregation of women into low paying jobs; lower levels of unionization for women and attitudinal barriers that have kept women from achieving equality in the workplace and undervaluation for women’s work.
According to documentary Why Can't a Woman Earn as Much as a Man?, it needs to begin with women. In the documentary they conducted studies that demonstrated the women tend to undervalue themselves, are less likely to ask for a raise or aren’t confident enough to ask for a high wage even though they may manifest amazing qualities. Another way this wage gap can be eliminated is by simply creating laws that requires employers to show the average pay for both males and females. This would help both females and males get an equal pay without making one seem to demanding or lower the chance of getting a job. However, it’s important to note that the gender wages difference may also be due to an aspect mentioned in the documentary Why Can't a Woman Earn as Much as a Man?, they explained that a women’s may be tampered
One cannot begin the discussion of the gender pay gap without defining it. Simply put, the gender pay gap is the inequality between men and women's wages. The gender pay gap is a constant international problem, in which women are paid, on average, less than that of their male counterparts. As to whether gender pay gap still exists, its exactness fluctuates depending on numerous factors such as professional status, country and regional location, gender, and age. In regards to gender, in some cases, both men and women have stated that the gap does not exist.
Are you aware that in 2015, women who were working full time in the United States were only paid 80 percent of what men were paid, at a 20 percent gap? This number is only up a measly one percentage from 2014, and the change isn’t of any major significance. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the earnings ratio hasn’t had significant annual change since 2007. This gender wage gap has only narrowed since the 1970s and due largely to women’s progress in education and workforce participation and to men’s wages rising at a slower rate. Still, the pay gap does not appear likely to go away on its own. At the rate of change between 1960 and 2015, women are expected to reach pay equity with men in 2059. But even that slow progress has stalled in recent years. These
Today in the United States, men make more than women in various sectors, including education and other trades favoring women workers. The gap gets bigger when comparing the wages earned by men to those of women in jobs favoring men workers such as construction or other physically demanding jobs. Women are less likely to work those jobs, therefor; men have the advantage of having more experience and get paid better. In addition, employers would rather hire a man instead of a woman because they believe that a man will be able to sustain the difficulty of the job and work longer hours which crate a disadvantage for women because they are unable to gain experience and become skilled in that certain field. Gender pay gap based on this information is explained as the result of the discrimination of employers toward the feminine sex in terms of pay, which discourage them to work certain jobs leading to create a bigger gap due to the lack of