Gender Pay Gap In America

Have you ever thought about what will come next in your life, beyond high school and college? Have you ever thought about a profession you would like to pursue and the amount of money that you will make when working at this job? Chances are that most of you have thought about your future at one point. Look at every female in the audience,could you tell the difference in salary they make for the same amount of work they put in? In the United States, for every dollar a man earns in the, a woman earns an average of 77 cents (Khan). The effect of this wage gap is that women and their families earn $10,470 less than men, leaving them shortchanged. (“The Wage Gap: The Who, How, Why, and What To Do”). Here in Armonk, most of us are very fortunate
This issue not only affects the women and children of this country right now, but it also affects women long-term and their retirement. Women and the loved ones they attempt to support are negatively impacted by this every day of their lives. Young children, the future generation of this country, are struggling and do not have enough money to receive education in order to prosper. If the gap were to be closed for a full year, it would result in an annual $447.6 billion gain nationally for women and their families. (Women Deserve Equal Pay). Women working full-time in any job every year lose the ability to pay for three months supply of groceries, three months rent and utilities, three months child care payments three months health insurance premiums, six months student loan payments and nine tanks of gas. (The Wage Gap: The Who, How, Why, and What To Do). Because of these annual losses, women and their children are not able to receive many of life’s benefits such as food , water, health, proper living conditions and the ability to receive
An investigation by (Martinelli) suggests that, if women were to gain the same wage as men, the United States economy would gain Growth Domestic Product at a rate equivalent to adding another state the size of Virginia. If this were to occur, the amount of families that suffer from poverty would be cut in half for families consisting of a working woman and single mother. Closing the gender pay gap would mean the difference of a family living above or below the poverty line, being able to obtain higher education and being able to have high-quality child care service. We the people, must strive forward in closing the wage gap in order to help our economy and help the families affected by the pay gap who are not able to fund basic necessities that we are all fortunate enough to