It is said that because of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the gender wage gap no longer exists. Studies today show that the gender wage gap is still very much alive. In the 6th edition of Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings written by Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee, Shaw and Lee explain, “the gender wage gap is an index of the status of women’s earnings relative to men’s and is expressed as a percentage and is calculated by diving the median annual earnings for women by the median annual earnings for men” (Shaw and Lee 497). Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics in 2010 showed the ratio of women’s to men’s annual earnings were 77%. This means for every dollar a man made, a woman made 77 cents. Shaw and Lee
Canadian women earned 87 cents to every dollar made by men in 2015, according to Statistics Canada in a statement released on International Women’s Day. This statement was released to show how today’s wage gap has improved compared to the 77 cents women made to every man’s dollar in 1981 (CBC News). It’s meant to represent an improvement and is supposed to be a good thing, yet it is not. Why? Because this statistic should not even exist in the first place.
Even though both genders have the same experience, are equally trained, and possess the same degree the pay is not equal. Women and men are not treated equally in the workplace, even though it is the twenty-first century. Although the wage gap has existed since the 1800’s, the increased participation of women in the labor force correlates with the decrease of the wage gap. The wage gap has dwindled over the years; however, the progress has slowed down in the past two decades. “At the rate of change between 1960 and 2016, women are expected to reach pay equity with men in 2059” (AAUW).
From birth, men and women were born equal to one another. Both genders have the ability to share the same opportunities, and achieve whatever desires they choose in life. In our current society as well as the past, this does not entirely follow through. “Gender is a social construct that specifies the socially and culturally appropriate roles that men and women are to play” (Kearl 2011). Going along that “it is one of the most universal measures upon which status is based (Kearl 2011).
Different factors were driving the decline of the gender pay gap: sectoral segregation, cuts in extra-wage components of pay and equal pay policy. While the first two may not outlast the crisis, the third factor might maintain longer-lasting progress. In this case, sectoral segregation refers to the uneven distribution of women and men between the private and public sector. The gender pay gap tends to be wider in private concerns, which diminished during the initial phase of the recession in favor of public concerns. Wage reductions typically come from cuts to the volatile components of pay packets, such as bonuses, premiums for overtime and other non-basic pay components, which are more often received by men.
The most popularly cited statistic when it comes to the gender wage gap states that women earn only 82 cents for every dollar that is earned by men (Glynn). Basically, what that means is if you average out what all women, working full time, year round, earn and compare that number to what all men working full time, year round, earn, researchers have found that women end up taking home 82 percent of what men do. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012, 57.7% of the corporate workforce was made up of women. If over half of working citizens are women, then why aren’t they getting the same respect in the work environment as men? This controversial topic is affecting women in many more ways than one.
A woman who works full-time and year-round earn less money than men make because they are discriminated against in labor markets. Even though this is just a myth, it does have a claim to it. By adding up the income of men and women and dividing each by the total population of each gender, one will find that men earn an average of twenty percent more than women do. The truth behind the pay gap is how men and women make choices, choices about investing in their knowledge and skills that will lead to their education and overall job experience. However, the job experience of women is lessened by the reality of unequal pay.
In 2010, President Obama addressed the issue of the gender wage gap in a written statement that stated “even in 2010, women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn”. The president also put pressure on the committee to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act that gives women the right to sue their employees if they’re not being paid the same as men, provided they have the same skills, experience and education. The act takes immediate steps to narrow down the wage gap, if it actually existed. Nevertheless, despite that bill being passed, many argue that the wage gap is a result of “sex discrimination”. They believe in this part of the world, women are drawing even with men in terms of education and experience, yet men are paid more and do better
The gender pay gap is a significant issue in the United States because it promotes institutional and internal sexism and the unfair treatment of human beings. An infamous statistic about the wage gap has been the 77 cent statistic, stating that for every dollar a man earns, a woman earns 77 cents. The statistic is calculated by, “...dividing the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working women by the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working men, all rounded to the nearest $100” (Glynn 2). This, however, represents males and females from all occupations, causing opponents to argue that, because it does not represent the gap between people who have the same job, a wage gap does not exist. Nonetheless, multiple studies have proven that a gender pay gap does exist within the United States.
It may be 2018, but the gender pay gap is still here, why is that? Women have been and still are getting a lower pay than men to do the same job. Women are doing equal if not more work, but somehow make less. The following paragraphs will explain what is happening today like the fact that over time men 's pay increases more than women 's does. Besides that I will also mention that not just white women make less than men other cultures make even less than them, and I also will share real people speaking up about them being paid less than men.
Women are often looked down on by many in work settings, so the outcome was decided that they should be paid less than men. Compared to the working man, “...women on average make 82 cents for every dollar earned by men” (Women’s Rights and Sexual Harassment: Are Further Steps Necessary to Ensure Gender Equality?). People from all over are working harder than ever to try to make equal pay in the United States a reality, but prejudice towards women and their abilities still remains strong. As stated in the article “Women Deserve Equal Pay”, since the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the wage gap has only decreased by 18 cents. In 2009, it was uncovered that although it had been 44 years since the Equal Pay Act was initiated, the gap was closed at a rate of less than half a penny each year.
Maybe it is not worth all the fuss to close the gap that appears to be present. “Male-dominated occupations tend to pay more than female-dominated ones (Ponnuruh, 2012, p. 15).” That being said, maybe the wage gap has something to do with the differences in pay between primarily male jobs and female jobs. To fully understand what the wage gap really is, you would have to compare the two based specifically on the same job title and same level of dedication between a man and woman. Statistics can lie, if you are not using the right information, it can appear to make something that is not accurate appear very convincing.
The gender wage gap is something that is a very pressing and important issue in our society today. Should there be a wage gap or should women be equal with men in the pay rates are two different sides that can be taken on this. However, I believe that we should take the steps to deplete the gap between wages of men and women. The ideas of wage gap is unfair due to the importance of women managers in the workplace, there is an unobserved component worker productivity that can be seen, as well as with female managers, that the wages of women are raised. Men and women everywhere have mainly two options for jobs.
Although this gap is slowly but surely closing, it is still ever-present. Women are almost half of the workforce. They are the sole or co-breadwinner in half of American families with children. They receive more college and graduate degrees than men. Yet, on average, women continue to earn considerably less than men.
Wages are given as the price of labor for the work done by an individual, and the reward for the investment on the human capital of the worker. However, despite the rise in equal opportunity employers and feminist movements upholding equality in the workplace, there is still a large disparity in the wages received by workers based on one’s sex. Borjas (2005) stated that wage inequality can be explained by the difference in productivity of workers and the rate of return of skills. This wage inequality is manifested in the wage gap and is usually seen between sexes and among various races.
Inequality against women is historical, global and persistent. The gender inequality gap in access to and control over productive resources such as land, natural resources, credit facilities, technology and other means of production correlates with women’s poverty and socioeconomic exclusion (Agarwal, 2007; Doss et al, 2006; UN Women and OHCHR, 2013; Commission on the Status of Women, 2014), whereas access to and control of assets is central to women’s socioeconomic wellbeing (World Survey, 2009; Meinzen-Dick et al, 2011; Dickson and Bangpan, 2012; UN Women and OHCHR, 2013). For this reason, global attempts towards development have in recent times, given much responsiveness to gender gap issues to ensure that men and women have equal gains