Disparity In Pay Essay

Is there a disparity of wages between men and women while performing identical work at the same place of employment? Are men really paid more for the same quantity, quality, and type of work performed? While this has been a much-debated topic over the years, I believe that the real question may be located in the data itself. I feel that the differences are statistically minimal, when you take into account, the many factors that determine an individual’s wages. Some of these factors would be length of service, years of study or experience, willingness to relocate, and choice of field. Many of the statistics involved on this topic will show that men do earn more than women do, but they do not include the factors I have already mentioned. When
Most people would agree that part time jobs do not carry the same wage levels that full time jobs do. Only 10% of all male employees are classified as part time. Men are more likely to accept overtime hours and women are more likely to decline overtime. This could explain a large portion of the disparity in wages. (United) Men tend to gravitate towards occupations that command higher pay than do women. Examples of these types of jobs are construction, hazardous duty, engineering, and natural science fields. Women more commonly choose occupations in nursing, human resources, and education, which are lower paying fields. (Fogg, Piper) Warren Farrell, author of, Why Men Earn More, discovered that in the 1980’s, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that men and women who had the same job title and responsibilities were paid equally. In this same time period another study was done that showed when both male and female employees were hired as engineers at the same time and worked on the same jobs with equal experience, family size, time off from work, and training they received the same rate of
Another study showed that women that operated their own businesses had net earnings 49% lower than men with the same businesses did. These women did not have a boss that could hold them back financially so why would their pay be any less than men’s pay would be. (Farrell) Perhaps this has more to do with lifestyle choices than any wage biases. Women on average tend to choose family over work, with men on the opposite side of the coin. In my opinion, it appears that men are more aggressive in their chosen occupations than women are. Men may be more willing to put in an 80-hour workweek to support their family where on the other hand women would prefer to bring home a little less and have more time to spend with their families. This is not to say that men do not value time with their families, just that man’s and women’s priorities are different. This may be one of the factors that drive the differences in the wage scale. Donna K. Ginther, an associate professor of economics at the University of Kansas found in humanities fields, after accounting for controlling factors, men earned 3% more than women did. She states there could be up to a 3% margin of