The Wage Gap In The United States

The wage gap has been a national issue in the United states for decades. While it was first officially recognized in the 1960s by the Equal Pay Act, it is still a huge issue today. The Equal pay act of 1963 stated that employers cannot discriminate against employee’s salaries based on gender. Although this act did set the precedent for equal pay, it did not solve the problem completely. Today a woman earns eighty cents for every dollar a man earns, a wage gap of 20% (NWLC, 2017). This gap also increases for women of color. A To every dollar a white man makes, an African American woman makes 63 cents and a Hispanic woman makes 54 cents. This issue is affecting women in 98 percent of professions (NWLC, 2017). Education is not the only solution

Research suggests that “gender discrimination continues to exist in today’s workplace” in regard to salaries, promotions, and other opportunities (Sipe, Johnson, & Fisher, 2009). There have been misconceptions about women in the workplace. Their productivity, commitment, and effectiveness. Whether it be conscious or unconscious, most employers believe that women are inferior to men in the work place. This is easily seen in working mothers, especially when a woman comes back from maternity leave. Employers and colleagues believe that work is not a priority anymore once a woman has children. It is also believed that women are not as hard working as their male counterparts. In a study examining the salary differences a male and female employee with the same qualifications and experience showed that in one case “gender was a significant influence on salary with a $18,012 difference between men and women” (Lane & Flowers, 2015). This study also concludes that the only way to eradicate the wage gap is through legislation that have punitive measures for discrimination based on gender. Gender discrimination and the gender wage gap are very important to recognize because they are having a huge detrimental impact on women in the

It can be inferred that receiving a lower salary for the same work as a male counterpart can make a woman feel inadequate. Inadequacy can make a person question their self-worth, create insecurities, and ultimately damage their self-esteem. The gender wage gap is detrimentally impacting women’s psychological well-being. In a study conducted by Katherine Keyes and her colleagues, the impact the wage gap has on mood disorders was examined. Results of this study concluded that “gender discrimination may be a prominent explanation for gendered mental health disparities at the population level” (Keyes, Bates, Prins & Platt, 2016). Researchers compared women’s likely hood to suffer from general anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. When women received the same salary as their male counterparts, their odds for depression were the same as men and their odds for anxiety decreased. When women received a lower salary for their matched male counter parts, their odds for depression were 2.43 times higher and their odds for anxiety were 4.11 times higher (Keyes, Bates, Prins & Platt, 2016). While it has been previously stated that women are more likely to suffer from mood disorders, after being studied, the gender wage gap has shown to play a large role in that. This suggests that if the gender wage gap was eliminated, the odds of mood disorders in women will decrease. The gender wage gap is not a