Equal Pay at the Workplace A huge problem in the working world is the issue of equal pay between men and women in the workplace. Once stance taken is that women are specifically targeted and that they are payed less than the average income of a man who has the same education and who works in the same profession while the other stance states that men and women are paid as close to equal as possible considering the careers taken. The issue of equal pay for women is considered an embarrassment. The term ¨embarrassment” is not an accurate term to describe the issue when so many factors go into how much women are paid. In 2014, a study showed that women earned 77 percent of what a man in the same position earned the same year. This looks bad, but …show more content…
the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics used a different formula for this study and they found the percentage was as high as 82 percent. If hourly rates are considered, the gap shrinks from 82 percent to 86 percent. The assumption that unequal pay in the workplace is due to sexism is simply incorrect and far from accurate. Analyses, more often than not, compare men and women who work full time, but surprisingly, not all ¨full time¨ is equally full.
Studies show that men are twice as likely to work more than 40 hours a week while women were twice as more likely to only work 35 to 39 hours weekly. Studies show that women who work 40 hours earn up to 88 percent of what a man who works the same job earns. Carrie Lukas wrote a piece by the name of “A Bargain at 77 Cents To a Dollar” in which she states that she had to take a less paying job to be able to balance her work and family life. Next, Mark J. Perry and Andrew G. Biggs wrote in “The 77 Cents on the Dollar Myth About Women’s Pay” , that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that single women who have never married earned 96 percent of men’s earnings in 2012. “The supposed gap appears when marriage and children enter the picture. Child care takes mothers out of the labor market, so when they return, they have less work experience than similarly-aged males” (Duke 2). Of course, not all jobs can be flexible and those that are tend to pay less due to working hours. Women also disproportionately obtain degrees that lead to lower paying …show more content…
jobs. Career choice is more than likely to be influenced by pay, and where the pay is higher, the risk tends to be higher as well.
Men even dominate the population of workers in the most dangerous jobs, which happen to pay more in order to attract more workers. An example of this is that we as a workforce see no women in the career fields of “...lumberjacks, iron workers, or Alaskan king crab fishermen nor politicians proposing social engineering to achieve equality in work-related deaths-- an area where 92 percent of the victims are men” (Perry and Biggs). Consider how male and female athletes are viewed. Complaints on how male and female athletes who play the same sport should be paid the same amount. The truth is that they aren’t. Male tennis player are paid more while female volleyball players are paid more than their male counterparts. If female tennis players want to be paid as much as male, then they should play in the men’s league. Taking a look at things from the female side, the top female models are paid ten times as much as the top male models. These predicaments have nothing to do with which sex is “better” than the other. The direct factor in their higher income is the fact that in some fields, a certain sex satisfies the market better than the
other. Equality simply cannot exist in the workforce. The problem is that when equality is focused on, reality is lost. People are not equal. Capacities, motivations, inclination, talents, the list goes on and on and all of these factors differ greatly from person to person. A study showed that in many fields, female graduates are being offered higher starting salaries than their male counterparts. Female physicians are getting close to $6,500 more than males. In fact, for dozens of majors and careers coming out of college, women are getting better offers than men starting out. Why does this happen? It happens because employers are willing to up the pay for certain jobs to attract female workers in order to decrease the chance of a costly discrimination lawsuit.
Though any pay disparity between women and men is a pressing issue, the “wage gap” is much more complicated than people believe because of misleading statistics, unaccounted for variables, and the different social and economic choices of men and women. The common idea that women make 77 cents on every dollar men make in the workplace is very misleading. It is true, however, this statistic ignores any factors that justify different pay. The wage gap is just the difference
The first significant equality legislation in the UK was the Equal Pay Act 1970 . However, the issue of equal pay in the workplace can be traced back to the 19th century. This essay will analyse how economic and social factors of the 19th and 20th century were the reasons for highlighting the issue of equal pay in the workplace. However, with the gender pay gap standing at 19.2 per cent in 2015 , there can be no defining reason for equal pay in the workplace. Consequently, this essay will then discuss how equality legislation has challenged unequal pay in the workplace, but in its reactive approach has failed its objective. Furthermore, this essay will then discuss the remedies for equal pay in the workplace by analysing the impact on both
In 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, making it unlawful to discriminate against a worker on the basis of sex. Since that time, the wage gap between men and women in the United States has narrowed by just 15 cents, now being 74 cents, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.
For many years in the United States, equal salary pay for women has been a major issue that women have been fighting for decades. This began back in World War II, when the National Labor Board urged equalize the salary rates for women with the same rates that males were getting the same professions. (Rowen) Although, traditionally most women do not work to provide for their family and there are not so many independent women during World War II. After World War II more women lost their jobs to veterans returning to the workforce. Women in the workforce after the war have been discriminated ever since. The idea of women as weak and cannot perform their jobs still embedded in the mind of some men and were not considered equals to their male counterparts. Women need to fight for equal pay because, women in the work force today is dramatically different from women that was working during World War II. (Rowen) Through studies as well, it shows that women are also more educated during 2002 and still was getting paid less than men. Even though in the 1960 's, the Equal Pay act was, in effect, it still did not help benefit women in the long run.
The pay for women who do the same amount of work annually as men is thousands of dollars less. This is an issue that I feel strongly about because I have a lot of women in my family that I believe should be given the same respect and appreciation for their hard work. I think it is because men see that women have changed over the years. They see that women do just as much work as they do. But they do not believe that they should get equal pay. The initial argument is that women are needed in this world just as much as men are which is very true. Like in the article “The Gender Pay Gap Industry” by Catherine Rampell, it sh...
Another large sexist factor in the workforce, is that women get paid less than men do for the same exact job. “Women get paid 77 cents on the dollar for every dollar a man makes, according to a recent study from the Institute for Women's Policy Research. That's a difference of more than $10,000 per year on average,”(Berman). Why is this? Some people believe that it is because women gravitate towards low...
Even today for example in the profession of teaching men are getting paid more than women by one percent (Payscale, 2015). That goes for a lot of other jobs as well and it’s unfair and a disadvantage for equality even when they are working as hard as man is at a
In addition, women are paid less than men for the same type of work. According to Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg mentions that women were paid fifty-nine cents for every dollar men were paid in 1996, but women protested to raise the compensation to seventy-seven cents (6). This means that even though a woman and a man perform the same work such as an engineer does, both do the same assignments and have the same responsibilities in the technology place, men are paid twenty three cents more than women. Moreover, women suffer from “gender discount” which means women have to pay for being part of the workplace or society ...
Women all over the world are constantly being looked at as objects and as lesser individuals compared to a man, despite the fact that they may work just as hard. One very commenly used exapmple of this is the gender pay gap in America. The average woman in this country is making 82% of what the average man makes. That may only be 18 cents, but that 18 cents can have a very large impact on the economy.
The gender pay gap, which affects half of the United States population, is an issue that many people have assumed has since been resolved. On the contrary, although it has been narrowing these past few decades, it has not been enough to even come close to resolving this issue. This issue is one of the foremost examples of underlying discrimination in the workplace. Even though gender pay inequality is generally associated primarily with corporate America,
Lya Sorano once said, “When we talk about equal pay for equal work, women in the workplace are beginning to catch up. If we keep going at this current rate, we will achieve full equality in about 475 years. I don't know about you, but I can't wait that long.” Countless laws have been passed in an attempt to create equal wages in the workplace between men and women. The Equal Pay Act signed by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the Civil Rights Act signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signed by President Barack Obama were all laws put in place to limit discrimination and equal the playing field between gender wages in the workplace ("Women's Pay Equity"). So how is it possible with all these laws passed, that
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.
Men and women are said to be equal, but in what world is having such a drastic difference in pay, an equal trait. In today’s society, people should be paid according to how hard they work, not according to their gender. It is often seen in professional sports, the media, and even in daily lives, that males are paid a substantial amount more, solely based on the factor that they are male. It should be required that for the same job and for the same amount of work, that women and men are paid the same amount of money and treated with the same respect; this means that there should be regulations on the pay between genders.
In recent times there has been has been countless clash in the media about the effects of sexism. One of the aspects that many people argue about is the difference in women and men’s pay. Many people argue that if both women have the same job, then why men get pay more money if they are completing the same task. This simple facts amazes many, how can a country like the United States who endorses freedom and equality still not regard everyone as equals. Along with this this is no doubt that males are getting the benefit of obtaining better jobs, for example men would get paid more than woman who received the same level of education. To add to that out of the people who received no education the same trend followed. Lastly, my mother has had
In today’s society, it is an understatement that women have come a long way from earlier generations in achieving gaining equal rights with men. Gender roles have evolved greatly throughout history; women can even be known as the breadwinners. However, discrepancies still exist when it comes to equal pay for equal work. This issue has the potential to have an impact on all women including myself, as I hope to one day join the workforce and become a financially independent businesswoman. While some argue that the issue is not relevant to today’s society there are still cases where women’s pay does not match up to men for doing the exact same work.