The Negative Effects Of Discrimination On Society

The second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence begins with the immortal words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. Though technically his terminology referred only to males, in this country we interpret the word “men” as citizens of every race and gender. This semester we discussed discrimination and its negative effects on society. In two years, I will receive an Associates of Arts in the field of English, but my ultimate dream is to graduate from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelors in Fashion Media. As I look toward my future, I am dismayed by the nationwide gender wage gap that promises I am unlikely to ever earn as much in salary as my male counterparts. Oxford Journal.org published a study titled

The New York Times reporter Claire Miller opens her article questioning the fact that despite our best efforts, the pay gap between male and females has remained close to twenty percent. She suggests this problem remains because when women begin to dominate an occupation, the pay grade immediately drops. She quotes a sociology teacher from New York University who indicates that when women begin to do a job well, society assumes that the job must be less important or require less skill. Miller supports her theory with statistics gathered by Professor Asaf Levanon. He found that once women entered the field of design the wages fell thirty four percentage points, when they entered the field of housekeeping wages fell twenty one percentage points, and the field of science was no exception- as women began to become biologists, their wages also fell eighteen percentage points. He notes that in contrast, computer programming was considered a menial job practiced mostly by females, and that it wasn’t until males began to dominate the field that the position began to earn both a higher salary and greater