Persuasive Essay
The wage gap has been a problem for years. Currently, women only make seventy eight cents to a man’s dollar (Baxter). Not only that but the wage gap increases with age. Women earn almost ninety percent of what a male counterpart would make until the age of thirty five. Furthermore, that means over forty years a full-time working women would make four hundred and sixty thousand dollars (Women’s Earning and Income 2). The wage gap is also caused by a double standard. Men in female dominated jobs, such as nursing, still make more than women. “In 2011, the average female nurse earned 51,100, 16 percent less than the 60,700 earned by the average man in the same job” ( Cummins 7). Some may say this is because men simply demand
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more money for their work whereas women are to passive to ask. A perfect example of this is Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer is one of the best paid female actress in Hollywood right now but only because she demands it. In American Hustle, both Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were only paid 1.25 million whereas, their male counter parts Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper made 2.5 million (Fleming). This opened their eyes to the gender discrimination in pay. The wage gap has slowly changed over the years. In 1974, women only made fifty nine percent of their male counterparts and today women make seventy nine percent (Hill). However it has plateau over the pass few years. To successfully close the wage gap we must be aware of it. We could end the wage gap by ending salary secrecy and gender discrimination.
Every company has the same goal to be successful so why must there be a gender barrier. Equal work deserves equal pay. In an article titled, Equal Work for Equal Pay: Not Even College Helps Women, Korva Coleman states that “studies show when men and women attend the same kind of college, pick the same major and accept the same kind of job, on average, the woman will still earn 82 cents to every dollar that a man earns” (Coleman). This study proves that there is obvious discrimination in the work force which results in the wage gap. Salary secrecy is a big part of the wage gap because people aren't able to negotiate a fair price if they do not have the information. As Joanne Sammer states, “What is going to close the gender wage gap is [salary] transparency” (Sammer pg 38). For example, Jennifer Lawrence once she was aware of what her male counterparts were making she was able to better understand what she should be paid. In 2015, cities such as Boston, California, and Phoenix stared to pass different bills to eliminate the gender pay gap. In California they pass a bill that fined companies if they did not provide equal pay for similar jobs that may have different titles, such as janitors and housekeepers. Boston and Phoenix also passed similar bills hoping to close the pay gap (Collins 5). If more states and cities took their approach we would be able to eliminate the pay gap in just a few …show more content…
years. If the gender wage gap could be closed it would finally give women a chance to have fair pay.
Imagine a world where men and women doing the same job make the same pay. It seems so simple but it would make such a difference; equal work deserves equal pay. We should follow the examples Boston, California, and Phoenix and also pass bills. The realization that man and woman can produce the same results, have the same education, and have the same capacity to accomplish the same overall tasks as men is becoming more popular, especially as the prevalent thought of women as not as valuable as men is constantly being proven to be
incorrect. People may say the pay gap is reasonable because if women aren't able to negotiate or undervalue themselves then its their own fault. This however is not true, women are not able to negotiate because they are unaware of what others in there position are being paid at that company, therefore they do not have enough information to negotiate. Another reason bosses may hire a man over a women is because they believe women are not totally committed to the job, especially if they are mothers. The company is worried they will not be giving as much time and effort as the men because they have a family. However having a family in no way means women are not able to give just as much effort to the company and the job as a man.
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
Exhilarated screams and contagious laughter pierce the air. The squeaking and screeching of the rusty old gate travel throughout the playground, as I tower towards it. Sprinting down the crumbly old path, leading to the sand court. There are crowds and clusters of children everywhere. The wind twisting and gusting throughout the awkward side bangs and awful bob haircuts. Recess was by far the most exciting and adventurous part of my second-grade life. Spotting my best friend, Lydia, out of the mass of children, I frantically run up to her and ask her to play Newcomb with me. Newcomb was the best recess game to me, simply because it always had the cutest boys. Lydia immediately replies with complete agreement.
The reality of wage differences between men and women is that above all changes women continue to earn less than men. Countless arguments have promoted that wage inequality has changed and that everyone finally receives an equal amount of pay. “For women of color, the gap is largest of all: In 2006, black and Hispanic women earned 86 and 87 cents on the white man’s dollar, respectively,” (Mcswane 2). If a woman is lucky enough she will get an equal pay compared to a man doing the same job. But it is challenging for a woman of a minority background to achieve this. Not only are women paid less because of their sex, but also because of their race. There seems to be a mentality that because someone is a woman and a minority that they cannot do the same job as men or that women do not have the same education as the men, so employers do not have to pay them the same. “When the numbers are broken down by district, they 're pretty hard to ignore. Women in Texas are being utterly screwed financially, according to the data compiled by AAWU, with women earning anywhere from 66 percent of what men do in some districts, to the top end of things, which is about 89 percent,” (Leicht 4). The proof cannot be ignored. It i...
The wage gap is a major issue that is constantly brought up in the work place. Numerous people use the term “wage gap” to state how gender can affect somebody 's income. There has always been an understanding that men typically made more money than women. For a long time, women were not allowed to work; therefore men were in charge of “bringing home the bacon”. However, times have changed and there are various situations where a household is centered off a women’s’ income. Females can become single mothers who have a responsibility to care for a child(s). Responsibilities can include monthly payments of water and electric bills and even weekly payments towards groceries. Women have to acquire enough money so that they are able
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
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.
There has always been a gender inequality issue in most jobs in the work force, but many may not see this inequality in the nursing field because they do not pay attention to it fully. Many people still have the stereotype that women are the only ones in this job field, but this is not the case anymore. This job field is always in demand for new nurses, and many women and men choose this field to the high pay and the satisfaction of helping others. This job field is one of the more female dominated careers. In 2013 only 10 percent of the population of nurses were men (Tanner, L. 2015). If only 10 percent of the population is men are nurses, they should not get paid anymore than women. Even though they are both doing the same job and received the same training, the gap between pay between male and female nurses is astonishing because they are both doing the same job, and they are both trained equally. Some nurse’s, male or female, may get paid more for years of experience or a more skilled training class, but there should not be a $10,000 gap. Many researchers give a few reasons why there is a wage gap. For example, some women leave their jobs to have children and have to come back to a lower paying job. This should not be one of the reasons women are getting paid less; just because they give birth to a child should not result in a pay gap. Until this inequality between women and men is resolved, there will always be this stereotype that men are above women.
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
A number of factors have contributed to the gap between men’s and women’s wages. These include: occupational segregation of women into low paying jobs; lower levels of unionization for women and attitudinal barriers that have kept women from achieving equality in the workplace and undervaluation for women’s work.
The United States has one of the highest gender pay gaps among the developed countries. In the country, the gender pay gap is measured as the ratio of female to males yearly earning among workers in full-time, year round (FTYR) earnings. In 2009, female FTYR earned 77% (0.77) as much as the FTYR male workers (US Census Bureau, 2013). The history of Gender Gap earning reveals USA has made big strides towards reducing the gender pay gap from 1980. For instance, in 1980 the gender pay gap ratio was 0.62 while in 1990, the gap stood at 0.72. Further from 1990 to 2000, the gap reduced to 0.73 and then to 0.77 in 2009. Currently, the gender pay gap stands at 0.76 and continues to persist (US Census Bureau, 2013).
(Despeignes, and Dunne 06) In other words, men dominated majority of the companies CEO 's which influence the decision and implementation of having an equal pay to women. I bet the situation of the 10 companies that run by women are different than the rest. A Cornell University Study, by Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn, showed that the pay gap had tightened as women gained more full time work experience and employers became influenced that women were dedicated to remain at their jobs. (Blau) In my experience, working in the financial institution for seven years, larger part of my work are senior female that works more than 20 years compare to
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).
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.
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
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).