Gender Pay Gap | EssayIvy.com

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Gender payment Gap in the United States

Introduction

The gender payment gap refers to the difference between women’s and men’s earnings.

The salary gap is usually expressed with respect to the percentage of what men earn. It is

common knowledge around the globe that men have been earning higher than their women

colleagues over eternity. In the America for example, women earn around 79 percent of what

their male counterparts do earn for the same type of jobs they do.

In Japan, women earn 27 percent less than men, that is, 73 percent. Europe is also a

victim of income disparity whereby in a country like Denmark, women earn 15 percent less than

their men counterparts. It is therefore important to note that the debate is not on whether gender

pay gap exists but rather why the gap exists and facts concerning.

It is also ideal that the causes of gender pay gap and the possible solutions that should be

studied to resolve it are studied. Among some of the perceived causes of the phenomenon are

gender discrimination in the economy. In this cause, women are believed to be less performing in

the same tasks as men. Another believed cause of gender wage gap is that women tend to

voluntarily select less paying jobs in the employment sector (Blau). Wage gap is father

pronounced among the Hispanic and woman of color. For example, Black women earn 63

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percent while Latina woman get paid only 54 percent of the amount paid to non-Hispanic White

American men.

On average, fulltime employed women in America lose a combination of up to $840

billion annually as a result of wage gap. The lost payments translates to women having less to

save and invest as well as lower incomes to support their families. If the wage gap were to be

catered for in the women incomes, it will mean women in the US will have enough income for

approximately; an increased childcare period of up to fifteen months (Blau).

According to Hadas and Moshe (1599), with the lost earnings, a woman will be able to

pay for up to 1.2 more years of tuition fees for their children in an American Public University.

Furthermore, retrieving the money lost through income disparity for women will mean that

women could be able to feed their families for an additional period of one and a half year.

In America, mothers are the sole providers for over half of families where there are under

18 children. In this perspective, in over half of white families, 81 percent of people of color, and

more than 53 percent of families of Latina origin, mothers are the sole bread winners.

Additionally, an excess of fifteen million American families are run by women. Moreover,

twenty-nine percent of these households’ incomes are below the poverty line.

In the American employment sector, none of the previously thought choices have proven

to be the source of wage inequality between men and women. For example, wage gap has been

observed to cut across all industries. In the civilian sector for example, the health care industry,

women are paid only 72 percent of what men are paid. According to Blau, in the manufacturing

industry, women earn 24 percent less than their male counterparts. Furthermore, research has

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shown that wage gap extends beyond educational levels. For example, master’s degree holder

and fulltime employed women earn 28 percent less than men of the same qualifications.

There are various causes that have contributed to the persistence of income inequality in

the American society. Presence of old stereotypes on women still persist and have contributed to

wage disparity. In the old setting, it was perceived that women had less responsibilities while

men had more financial responsibilities. As a result of this, wage gap has been rooted to the

society based on this stereotype up to date (Carter). Additionally, discrimination as a source of

income inequality is difficult to tackle in that it is not tangible.

Unlike racial slurs, discrimination based on gender at work place is increasingly subtle

yet pervasive in nature. For example, women are denied avenues of climbing up the ladder in

organizations by being given roles irrelevant to their carriers. In this case, they are unable to gain

the requisite experience for carrier growth hence more payment.

Another cause for pay gap between men and women is the tendency of women choosing

less paying jobs. Research studies have proven that both people of color and women occupy jobs

that are less paying compared to the white males who occupy more paying jobs. In Minnesota for

example, “women jobs” pay 20% less averagely compared to male-dominated jobs (Carter).

Moreover, the responsibility of women to raise their children at home means they will stay at

home for longer periods of time. On return, their carries will have stagnated and hence are paid

less compared to their former male peers who have been working all along.

Wage disparity is an economic problem that needs to be solved by both the government

and the corporate sector. The reason for this is the need to liberate women from economic

oppression and discrimination. Some of the intervention measures that may be taken to tackle

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pay gap between men and women include the following; implementation of fair pay practices

and protections (Blau & Lawrence, 800). This will ensure that employs who complain against

discriminatory payment in companies are not victimized. The act will reduce wage gap based on

gender segregation.

Additionally, improvement of reproductive health care will go a long way into enabling

women to pursue their carries and education hence increased turn up in their job places which

will in the long run bridge the pay difference with men. According to Blau and Lawrence (810),

increased funding to federal agencies that enforce and investigate fair pay will help in narrowing

the wage gap between men and women. Moreover, carrying out public awareness on wage

segregation and stereotype is important in helping reduce the pay gap. When people are made

aware of the wage gap and the increasingly big role that American mothers have in raising

children in homes, the employers will act towards reducing the gap.

Conclusion

Gender wage disparity is a major issue in the American society. With the change in the

society whereby there is a large proportion of families headed by mothers, it is increasingly

oppressive to allow pay gap to exist in the economy. The causes of this unfair tendency such as

male-chauvinism need to be addressed through public awareness on equality. To achieve this, the

funding of federal agencies that aim at pay protection also has to be increased. Through

achievement of the equality in payment, the standards of leaving are going to further increase

while poverty levels are greatly reduced in the United States. From the possible interventions

discussed in the article, bridging the income difference between men and women, though will

take a long period of time, is possible.

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Works Cited

Blau, Francine D. "Gender, inequality, and wages." OUP Catalogue (2016).

Blau, Francine D., and Lawrence M. Kahn. "The gender wage gap: Extent, trends, and

explanations." Journal of Economic Literature 55.3 (2017): 789-865.

Mandel, Hadas, and Moshe Semyonov. "Gender pay gap and employment sector: Sources of

earnings disparities in the United States, 1970–2010." Demography 51.5 (2014): 1597-

1618.

Carter, Shawn. "The Gender Pay Gap In The US Is Still 20 Percent — But Millennial Women

Are Closing In On Men". CNBC, 2018, https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/gender-pay-

gap-is-still-20-percent-but-millennial-women-are-closing-in.html. Accessed 23 Mar 2018

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