Unequal Pay Essay

Although many Americans like to disagree that women are purposely disadvantaged in the workplace, others gather information on the issue and present their findings to the public in order to prove that it is a real dilemma. One such example is that of Jonathan Webb, who published an article in Forbes Magazine using facts from previous studies to relay their findings to readers. He explains theories on possible reasons that the wage gap exists, including the glass ceiling effect, which shows the struggles of women when attempting to progress higher in their careers (Webb, 2016). He also points out the obvious example of blatant discrimination some employers have against women when deciding important aspects like promotions. These facts prove

It is seen that female employees have been earning 80 to 90 percent of what their male coworkers receive (Webb, 2016). Even though the Equal Pay Act states that “men and women in the same workplace [should] be given equal pay for equal work,” examples have been found where women are being paid less than their male coworkers, and have received compensation through the courts. As was the case for 300 women who were awarded $5 million in settlements because of pay disparities found by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) this year. This specific story was documented in a Time Magazine article by Jennifer Calfas, which spoke of the State Street Company who was guilty paying their female employees less than their male employees who held the same level positions (Calfas, 2017). Ironically, State Street had become an advocate for empowering women, and installed a new statue to prove it. However, at the same time, they were treating their female employees as less important than their male coworkers. When the company was interviewed on the issue, they stated that they disagreed with the accusations, but continued to cooperate with the DOL’s requests to fix the issue (Calfas,