Consequences Of Unequal Pay Among Women

The economic issue I am choosing to talk about in this essay is equal pay among women. For decades women have been a part of the oppressed population, women were nothing to men but property, and to this day women are not taken as serious as men. Though we have come a long way from the early 1900s we as women still a long way to go. Even in a female dominated field such as social work men are still getting paid more than women. The topics I will be talking about in this essay will be who does this impact, what is the economic impact, the consequences and what is being done to overcome the issue.
The unequal pay among women affects many people such as, two parent homes, women who don’t have kids and it also affects women of different ethnic groups. Research states that mothers make seventy one cents for every dollar the fathers make. Mothers of another ethnicity tended to make even less then Caucasian women (The Wage Gap). If a two parent house hold is going to a financially trying time the women’s lesser pay can greatly affect whether the bills will be
paid that month. A couple’s financial situation can have a great impact on their future together, whether they stay together or separate. Single women who do not have children make seventy six cents for every dollar a man makes working the same hours (The Wage Gap). As a single woman trying to support myself is a challenge. With my years of experience in health care I am still making the same as people with no prior knowledge or experience in health care. I still have to rely on my father to send me money every month to just barely make ends meet, if I were getting paid for my experience I most likely would not need to rely on the money from my father. Women often need to rely on someone else to make ends meet or even have to get a second job. For black women they make sixty three cents for every dollar their white male coworkers and for Latinas they make fifty four cents for every dollar a white male coworker makes (The Wage Gap). If women are getting paid equal as men it can leave us to be living in poverty, which leads me to my next point. The economic impact affects many people such as single women without children and single women with children plus many more. Because women are still oppressed they tend to live in poverty. Single women living in poverty are a higher risk of assault and depression. When children are involved it can have a negative effect on them. Children living in poverty don’t often have access to the best education, therefore unable to get above the poverty line when they are older and on their own. If women got equal pay as men single women and single mothers could get out of poverty by around fifty percent. I believe it is in everyone’s best interest to have women get the same pay as men, dollar to dollar. As stated above the consequences of the unequal pay among women affects more than just women.
It could have a negative impact on children of single mothers because they are unable to afford proper schooling for their child, mothers often have to move to a poorer community due to the pay gap and therefore risking the safety of her and her family. If a mother is getting paid less than a man she may have to work more hours to make ends meet and then not giving herself time with her child which can greatly affect their emotional state as they grow up. If we want to boost the economy it would need to start with allowing women to get the same pay as men. Women make up about half of the current work force, and often have only themselves to rely on while sometimes supporting a child. If women of all ethnic groups do not get paid equal to their white male coworkers chances are the poverty line will never diminish but
rise. There are many things we as a country could do to overcome the pay gap between women and men. Laws can be set and strengthen that allow women to fight back when they are being discriminated against. Remove blockades to better paying job or career advancement. Allowing women who are raising a child on their own to have better access to affordable childcare. Preventing discrimination due to sex and risk of pregnancy and allowing fair schedules that allow a mother to care for her children and herself. The last few things our country could do for women is allow them to have access to quality health care and paid medical and family leave. This is not a list of things that are being done but a list of things that could help women get equal pay to their male coworkers. Not many things are currently being done to close the gender pay gap, but the pay gap is shrinking. I believe for the betterment of society the pay gap needs to be completely closed. When women are treated as equals and getting paid the same as their male coworkers the economy will skyrocket and allow our poverty line to diminish. We deserve it to ourselves to have a country everyone can be proud of. When mothers get out of poverty their children can see that and learn to work hard, instead of staying in poverty generation after generation.