June O Neill's Article: The Gender Gap In Wages

The article The Gender Gap in Wages insights the issue about the wage gap in the early 21st century, observing that is not actual discrimination in the workplace, but rather the type of work and time put into it that changes the wages between male and female workers. June O’Neill gives sufficient statistical data that is focused on work experience and how productivity in the home is a result of the wage gap. Her claim introduces a great amount of statistical data that shows the reader the reasons for a wage gap to exist. She is knowledgeable about the subject and is straight-forward about her point. O’ Neill’s argument is justifiable meanwhile, it can be argued that her neutrality on the wage gap does not give a specific reason as to how this

She later states that, “sisters and brothers are exposed to the same parental backgrounds and attend schools of the same quality” (O’Neill, 2003, p.309). She has no evidential statistics to make that claim. Parental backgrounds vary from cultures, often boys are given more privileges than girls. It can be argued that families encourage boys and girls differently, which can be a factor to what school and career choice the individual wants to pursue. Without realizing, parents can pressure boys into aspiring for more prestigious careers to be able to support a family because of gender roles. Throughout history, women have proved that they are able to do the same work that males do. When it comes to work productivity, it can be argued that one sex does not have work done better than the other. In the statistics given, there is none that relate to a certain career. She continues to add on that the types of skills in a particular field of work are important but, does not give wage differences between men and women in particular jobs. There have been testimonies within workplaces that men are being paid more than women with no reasonableness. There could have been more statistics added to specify the fields of work that show significant differences in

O’Neill closes her statement by concluding that even if all discriminatory workplace behavior was removed the wage gap will not change significantly. However, she fails to consider that many of these discriminatory issues have deeper roots in the issue. Her claim is that the family roles will have to change before any progress can be made. Again, not including statistics of households where both men and the women work similar jobs to back up such a claim. Another point that was not made is how wages increase in the amount of time a person is working at a place. O’Neill claims that “women continue to be much more likely than men to work part-time” (O’Neill, 2003, p. 311). Many jobs give raises as a person stays within a company. Seniority level workers will then have to work less hours while keeping a secure paycheck. Even in minimum wage jobs, pay will increase overtime as a person becomes efficient and work steadily. It can be argued that it is more expensive to hire new employees than to increase current employee pay. A person can be working less hours but be paid more than someone who is a full-time employee which evens out the wage gap within a