Introduction “If women had equal opportunities as men, the global GDP would rise by 26%, the equivalent of $28 trillion, by 2025” (Woetzel et al., 2015). Despite strides made in recent years, women continue to face discrimination in the workplace, with a notable hurdle being the gender pay gap. The gender pay gap reflects disparities in earnings between men and women performing similar roles and has considerable implications for both individuals and the economy. The gender pay gap persists due to many factors, including family obligations, bias in hiring, and occupational segregation. These barriers have proven to impede women’s progress in the workforce and create inequalities that slow economic growth. Moreover, the economic outcomes of the …show more content…
When women are paid on the same scale as men, they can better support themselves and their families, invest in education and healthcare, and contribute to their communities. This, in turn, creates a ripple effect of outcomes, lifting societies out of poverty and building a more equitable economy. With more equal opportunities available, the potential to increase health and prosper academically exists. “Studies have shown that women tend to invest more of their income in comparison to men into expenses with education, health, and nutrition, which, in turn, could lead to further economic development as younger generations will grow healthier and more educated” (Abney and Laya, 2018). Conclusion Tackling the gender pay gap, stemming from family obligations, biased hiring practices, and job segregation, is essential for fostering equal economic opportunities and overcoming gender inequality in the workforce. Addressing these critical issues is vital to maximizing sustainable economic prosperity. By closing the wage gap and ensuring equal pay for equal work, women have the opportunity to thrive in the workforce and contribute to economic …show more content…
G. (2018). This is why women must play a greater role in the global economy. World Economic Forum. Blau, F. D. (1996). The Species of the World. Where are we in the economics of gender? the gender pay gap. The Gender Pay Gap (July 1996). Blau, F. D., & Kahn, L. M. (2000). Gender differences in pay and benefits. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(4), 75-100. Blau, F. D., & Kahn, L. M. (2017). Gender wage gap: Extent, trends, and explanations. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(3), 789-865. Becker, G. S. (1985). The Species of the World. Human capital, effort, and the sexual division of labor. Journal of Labor Economics, 3(1, Part 2), S33-S58. Cornish, M. (2006). The 'Secondary'. Closing the global gender pay gap: securing justice for women's work. Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J., 28, 219. Correll, S. J., Benard, S., & Paik, I. (2007). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112(5), 1297-1338. Haas, S. (2007). The 'Secondary'. Economic development and the gender wage gap. The Fifth Annual Carroll Round, 126. Isaac, C., Lee, B., & Carnes, M. (2009). Interventions that affect gender bias in hiring: A systematic review. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 84(10), 1440. Klasen, S., & Lamanna, F. (2009). The impact of gender inequality in education and employment on economic growth: new evidence from a panel of countries. Feminist Economics, 15(3), 91-132.
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
This social justice issue is important in the community because it impacts women by disrespecting them, it makes women feel like they are not valued. Our central question is does pay equal respect? If pay equals respect then women are definitely not being respected. Society believes that men have that higher power so they should get paid more, this is a . It impairs the ability of women and families to buy homes and pay for college education, it limits their total lifetime earnings, savings, and benefits, which makes women much more vulnerable to poverty in retirement.This issue expands even into nonprofits as of nonprofits with budgets
Despite the great lengths society has overcome in regards to gender inequality, social issues regarding the difference between men and women still exist. Women in today’s society still continually earn less than men in almost every single occupation. Women were given the right to vote in 1919, yet in 2016 they still have not achieved full equality in comparison to their male counterparts. Gender equality related to equal pay is concerning not only in my own community, but the entire nation.
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.
Throughout the history of the world, discrimination in all forms has been a constant struggle, whether it is race, gender, religion, appearance or anything else that makes one person different from another, it is happening every day. One significant discrimination problem that is affecting many women takes place in the work place. As of recently the gender wage gap has become a major topic for discussion. The gender wage gap is the average difference between men and women aggregated hourly earnings. Women who are equally trained and educated, and with the same experience are getting paid way less than men. In 2015, female full time workers earned eighty cents for every dollar earned by men.
When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 into law, he hoped that it would allow working women to finally earn the same amount of money as men; however, more than half a century later, men continue to out earn women in almost every field of work (Lipman para. 4). Male dominated fields tend to pay more than female dominated fields at similar skill levels. In 2012, women earned an average of $691 per week while men earned an average of $854 per week. Furthermore, the majority of women remain unaware that they are earning less than their male colleagues (Hegewisch para. 1). The gender wage gap not only harms a woman’s ability to provide for herself, it also harms many children and families. Women are now the primary caregivers
Gender Pay Gap also referred to as Gender wage gap, gender income difference or male-female income difference refers to the difference between the earning of men and women (Victoria, 2006). The European Union defines the Gender Pay gap as the difference between men and women’s hourly earnings (OECD, 2012). The difference may be measured on hourly, weekly, monthly, or yearly earning. The difference is expressed as a percentage of the men’s earning. However, the difference varies from one industry to another, from one country to another and from one age group to another. On average, men earn higher than women do across different sectors and nations.
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.
One cannot begin the discussion of gender pay gap without defining it. Simply put, gender pay gap is the inequality between men and women wages. Gender pay gap is a constant international problem, in which women are paid, on average, less than that of their male counterpart. As to if gender pay gap still exist, 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. Due to various countries initiatives to shrink the wage inequality between men and women wages in the work force, the gap has narrowed, respectively, which may have helped form such opinion. However, stating that the gender pay gap does not exist in today’s society, anywhere, is completely unlikely. Seeing that the gap has loosened its grasp in the working world, in other countries, the gap between pay has widen or remained stagnant. One cannot help but wonder why the gap remains consistent even with such substantial progress made in countries where the gap has decreased.
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.
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
Historically, males and females normally assume different kinds of jobs with varying wages in the workplace. These apparent disparities are widely recognized and experienced across the globe, and the most general justification for these differences is that they are the direct outcomes of discrimination or traditional gender beliefs—that women are the caregivers and men are the earners. However, at the turn of the new century women have revolutionized their roles in the labor market. Specifically in industrialized societies, the social and economic position of women has shifted. Despite of the improving participation of women in the labor force and their ameliorating proficiency and qualifications, the labor force is still not so favorable to women. The opportunities available for women in the market are not as diverse as those presented to men. Still, the construct of gender ideology influences how employers undertake economic decisions, and that is why companies still have jobs labelled as “men’s work” and occupations categorized as “women’s work.” Indeed, the pervasiveness of gender differences in labor markets is undeniably true, specifically with respect to salary gap between men and women, occupational gender segregation of men and women, and the challenge that women face in terms of juggling their time and attention between their career and family life.
Despite government regulations to promote equality within the workplace, women’s salaries continue to lag behind males in similar career with similar experiences. According to research performed by Blau & Kahn (2007) “women salaries averaged about 60% of men’s until the 1970s and rose to nearly 80% by the 1990s” (as cited in Bendick, Jr. & Nunes, 2012, p.244). Today, women on average earn approximately $.81 for every dollar that men earn in the United States (Guy and Fenley P.41 2014).
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.