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Equal pay and treatment
How has the male - female wage differential changed through time and why? essay
Equal pay and treatment
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Gender Wage Gap in the United States Introduction The previous century together with the current one has witnessed intensified calls for gender equality and calls for greater opportunities regarding women empowerment. Most first-class nations are doing well in empowering women in different aspects of the society. However, women are still earning lower wages as compared to their male counterparts across all Western countries as asserted by (Kunze, 2017). This gender niche has been present for many years although it has witnessed some significant developments. In the United States, the issue of gender pay discrimination afflicts women of all races, educational backgrounds, and ages. The issue has been very perennial in the United States due …show more content…
For instance, acts such as The Equal Pay Act have only addressed superficial issues such as advocating for women to go for higher paying fields and to focus on careers that pay more. They have ignored the fact that women making it to this requirement are still being paid less. According to the recent statistics documented by Blau and Kahn (2017), the American women now constitute one-third of doctors and lawyers in the country, but sadly, they are still paid less than their fellow men in the same profession. Therefore, there is zero glory in vouching for higher pay jobs for women when the compensation rates are not streamlined for both genders. Another problem is, in as much as women are climbing up the ladder and tap into the fruits of higher-paying occupations, the hostile environments in these professions is discouraging (Mishel, Bernstein & Schmitt, 2016). The government has failed to put in elaborate measures to address this issue. Worse enough, it is indicative that American men are not yet to embrace gender equality owing to the fact the act vouching for gender equality has failed to pass the vote of the United States Congress …show more content…
This has significantly worked down on their working durations especially in the informal employment. More startling statistics have deduced that the gender wage gap has stagnated for the thirty years in Denmark (Pedersen & Jorgensen, 2010). Somehow, there remains a puzzle insofar that the education levels for both women and men have been standardized in the country. Additionally, the average women labor market experience is more or less the same as that men. The gross gender wage gap in Denmark which constitutes two thirds can be attributed to traditional causes of educational level, experience and occupation profile alongside the working conditions (Kunze,
Despite the manifestation of Rosie the Riveter propaganda and the continuous push to recruit women, they still were not granted equal pay for their services. This was true in the 1940’s and it’s still a relevant issue today. Then, it was rare for women to earn even slightly more than fifty cents to every man’s dollar. Now, the average woman earns anywhere from sixty to eighty percent of a man’s salary for the exact same job. Ranges vary depending on the specific career field. However, women of minorities remain stuck in injustice systematic trends. The pay rate for a female minority is still approximately fifty percent.
Another reason for the pay discrepancy is that women are usually employed in low-wage occupations and industries, such as teaching. Even women working in the same industry, and having equal qualifications, earn less than their male counterparts — in fact, even top women executives earn considerably less, on average, compared to their male peers (Patel, 2016). The other reason for the gender pay gap is that more women than men work part-time jobs. According to the Canadian Women's Foundation (n. d), for the last 30 years until 2013, about 70% of part-time/temporary workers were women, which translated to 60% of minimum wage earners being women. Finally, the Canadian Women's Foundation (n. d) claims that approximately 10-15% of the wage gap is
Throughout the world, discrimination in all forms has continued to be a constant struggle; whether it’s racial, gender based, religion, beliefs, appearance or anything that makes one person different from another, it’s an everyday occurrence. A major place that discrimination is occurring at is in the workplace. One of the largest problems discrimination issues is believed to be gender. Women, who have the same amount of experience as men are not getting paid at the same rate as men, these women also are equally trained and educated. According to the article Gender Pay, it was discovered in 2007 that a woman makes 81 cents for every dollar a man earns.(“Gender Pay”) . This shouldn’t be happening in today’s society for the fact the society lived in today is suppose to be more accepting. Men are viewed as being more popular, valuable and having higher powers than women. The Reason Discrimination is involved in the equal pay equal work is because of the significance it has to how some businesses pay their employees.
While the median weekly pay for women rose in the past decades, it is still largely inferior to the median weekly pay of men employed in the same jobs. This difference of pay also puts an additional burden on women who are expected to stay home when emergencies arise. They cannot in some cases pay for daycare or rely on their companies’ understanding that someone has to take care of the family obligations. In result, they are penalized when comes the time to find candidates for promotion and are seen as not as dependable as their male counterparts. Finally, women face a social bias against them that encompass gender, appearance and race. It effectively punishes them for reasons that are out of their own control and not related to their job performance and skills. Laws against gender-based discrimination, more flexible workplace arrangements and a change in our culture regarding women may help fight discrimination and help women reach their full potential in the workforce. By starting to allow for more flexibility, paying women on a comparable scale than the one used for men, and support women in their desire to take care of their families, corporations could set the tone for a fairer treatment of women in the
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
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 fight between men and women and equal rights and pay has been going on for many years. The wage gap is contributed by many factors like sex, race discrimination, education, but manly overall how men and women have been viewed as. Men are paid more because they work “harder and are stronger” where’s woman’s jobs are “less work and not as strong” therefore, that’s why the pay and the job occupations is different. Over the past century, American women have made tremendous strides in increasing their labor market experience and their skills (The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations). The pay gap goes beyond wages and is even greater when we look at workers’ full compensation packages. Compensation includes not just wages, but also
The first thing that factors in is that women are more likely to work in lower paying jobs including: retail trade, leisure and hospitality. There are not very many women who work in the three jobs with the highest wages: information services, mining and logging, and utilities (“Gender Pay Gap: Recent Trends”). According to the Council of Economic Advisors, “women are also slightly less likely than men to have access to paid leave and, perhaps as a result, are slightly more likely to take leave without pay.” Discrimination is another factor. Women may be influenced which job to choose base on discrimination, and it can cause women to leave their position (“Gender Pay Gap: Recent Trends”). According to the Council of Economic Advisors, there are less women who are receiving science and math degrees even though, in 2013, women earned 57 percent of all bachelor’s degree, 35 percent of which were in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. The level of education does not help the wage gap either, no matter what level of education women have there is still a pay gap (Dishman). The Council of Economic Advisors also says that “in general, women, even highly-educated women, are less likely to negotiate their first job offer than men. But even when women do negotiate, if the norms of negotiation and salary expectations are not transparent, they are likely to receive less than men.” A survey from
Further data shows that in Woman’s lifetime, she will earn 77% of what a man will earn. However, there are controllable factors, such as job position, race, job industry and other factors, which affect the Gender Pay Gap. For instance, the US Department of Labor found that when such factors were considered, the gap ...
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.
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.
Few agreeable reasons as to why the gap continues, expressed by the European Commission, are either by traditions and stereotypes, “glass ceiling” direct discrimination, or the undervaluing of women’s work ("What Are the Causes?). Several claim that the persistency of gender wage gap is that men and females differ in their choice of profession and educational degrees. Men, traditionally, attain “career-oriented” degrees such as engineering, sciences, and business, in which, usually, they steer towards high-paying jobs, while women seem to wade near social service degrees, and secretarial work causes lower pay.... ... middle of paper ... ...
It is very important to be concerned about the issue because it is constantly increasing throughout the United States. It upsets me that women are paid less than men because women have the same ability and work ethic as men do, but they are looked at differently. According to AAUW, women make 77 percent of what men make. This rate hasn’t changed since 2002 (Hill, 2013). Statistics show that women will never make as much as men due to the thought of never being comparable to men (Williams, 2013).
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.
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).