Thesis Gender wage disparity is an enduring and widespread problem that affects women in all areas of life, regardless of location or economic sector. Women are always paid less for doing the same work as men, whether they are working in emerging economies or wealthy nations like the US and Canada. This inequality affects several areas, including technology, banking, healthcare, and academia. It is not limited to just one of these fields. The gender gap continues to exist despite decades of campaigning and legislative efforts to advance gender equality. This indicates ingrained cultural norms and structural biases that support uneven treatment in the workplace. Furthermore, the effects of the gender wage gap go beyond personal financial security …show more content…
They found that women become frustrated about the wage gap, which leads to them internalizing their feelings and eventually progresses to depression and anxiety (Stieg, 2020). Statistics Canada has revealed that in 2022, Canadian-born women earned 9.2% less than men, which is a drop from 15.0% in 2007 (Statistics Canada, 2023). Even with this pay gap decreasing, it is still relatively high and illustrates the ongoing difficulties in attaining real gender parity in the workforce. In Australia, according to firm-level statistics published by the government, Australian enterprises pay male employees on average over 40% more than female employees (Brumpton, 2024). These results highlight the critical need for coordinated initiatives to eliminate structural injustices and implement laws that support gender parity in pay and work practices at the national and international levels. Explanation The discrepancy in wages between men and women in the working world is known as the gender pay gap. Many other ideas and perspectives help to explain this phenomenon, which is intricate and …show more content…
Further investigation was conducted which involved computer science and engineering students who ranked their skills on a scale from not confident to extremely confident. It was disclosed by the students' surveys that women have lower levels of self-efficiency than men which contributes to their lower wages (Allen, 2021). Women have less confidence in their technical skills, which can affect how they negotiate deals and fail to receive the ones with higher salaries due to their self-esteem (Allen, 2021). The next study examined workers in the US and found that the gender pay gap is also influenced by a variety of other factors, including unionization, part-time work, gender segregation, and parenting (Meara et al., 2019). This study concluded that there was a bigger gender pay gap for women who were only part-time workers and who were in a union, despite having a union premium wage which lowers the gap overall but it still exists (Meara et al., 2019). The last study was conducted in Pakistan and it examines the opinions of female employees on unfair compensation practices and looks at the attitudes that may be causing the persistent gender wage gap to continue in terms of acceptance or resistance (Qazi et al.,
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
Policy statement: Women should receive equal pay for work of equal value. It is recommended that the Canadian government should design and pass a compulsory and proactive pay equity law, which would ensure that all Canadians receive equal pay for equal work.
In “Exploiting the Gender Gap” Warren Farrell argues that the issue of disparity between men and women’s wages does not exist. Farrell provides multiple statistics and research that contradict the ever prominent “fact” put out by the media that women are paid less than men. He then covers a range of personal examples that strengthen his argument. He, subsequently, moves beyond the simplicity of wage disparity and brings the focus of his attention to the focus on discrimination.
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
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
This issue has as affected both past and present society. In any democratic society, this is a concern that is to be taken more seriously. Australia has dealt with gender equality of wages for a long period and nowhere in Australia’s history have women and men’s wages been equal. Due to this significant gap, women seem to be
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.
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.
The gender wage gap is a really important civic issue to address because it shows the inequality and gender bias at the jobsite. In comparison to men, women, especially women who are marginalised by the dominant population in their respective city or country, have to overcome obstacles that restrict how much their salary is, which feed into cycles that make poverty a constant in their family. By guaranteeing that women are paid equally for equivalent labour, closing the gap benefits women as well as families and communities by making sure the economy is stable. For feminists, activists and employers, this is an important problem because of the backlash a company can get and how it can tarnish their reputation, which is a serious civic issue.
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.
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
Gender Inequality at a Workplace 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 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.
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.