Gender Pay Inequality
Introduction The presence of the gender wage gap in the American workplace is a highly debated topic in today’s society. Despite their competence to do the job, women in top jobs face gender disparities in income in the United States. The gender wage gap has now been intensively investigated (EPITHET) for several decades, but remains an area of active and innovative research. Many people believe the inequality in gender wage gap is simply a fallacy and has not in fact existed since the Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1963. The period of the strongest wage convergence between men and women was in the 1980s, and progress has been slower and more uneven since then. On one hand, people do not believe in the existence of the wage gap. These
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people tend to lean towards the conservative side and believe a variety of factors that can explain the evidence many have used to argue the existence of such a gap. These factors, which will be explained in greater detail, include the educational choice of men versus women, the jobs that women tend to take, as well as the career paths they choose to pursue. On the opposite side some believe wage gap exists with indisputable evidence that proves the existence of the gender wage gap after the Equal Pay Act’s creation. They believe that this issue is a serious problem that continues to negatively impact women and the amount that they make in comparison to their male counterparts every day. The people who tend to be on this side of the argument have based their opinions on a set of factors they believe prove the existence of the wage gap, However, the shorter term picture in the United States has been somewhat mixed. In spite of its narrowing, the gender pay gap persists. Even though women have increased their presence in high-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as professional and managerial positions, women as a whole continue to work in lower- paying occupations than men do. The standard way of thinking about the issue of gender wage gap is that wage should exist because women are considered inferior to men or that society doesn’t think that this topic is important. The idea of equal pay means that workers should be compensated fairly for what the work that they doing, regardless of race, gender, or physical ability (PARALLELISM). When it comes to gender wage gap, most of us readily agree that people should get paid for their hard work.
Literature Review In the man-dominated world, journalist, Karin Agness, covers the intersection of women policy and politics for Forbes.
The only female journalist cited in this research Karin Agness wrote an article entitled “Don’t Buy into the Gender Pay Gap Myth” (2016). Journalists Kweilin Ellingrud and Vivian Riefberg claim that “significant inequality still remains, and it has huge economic costs.” The authors’ purpose is to make their readers aware of the negative implications in order to help them have a better knowledge of the facts. Ellingrud and Riefberg establish an informal and instructive (ANALOGY) tone to convince the readers to look beyond the myths and research the facts. Reporting writer, Kevin Miller, highlights in the issue by organizing the article in terms of the things that do and do not effect wage gap like pay gap by state, wage gap for women of color, numbers by race, the fact that education does not affect the pay gap, and at the end giving ways to help resolve this issue. Miller also uses graphs to show support claims and illustrates and affirms these affects to expose socioeconomic gender pay gap in …show more content…
2017.
In the article “Don’t Buy Into The Gender Pa Gap Myth” (2016), Karin Agness states,” the popular notion outside of Cambridge is that Harvard undergraduates, including the young women I met with, hit the jackpot when it comes to post-college opportunities.
And many doors will be open to them in the future that won’t be open to less pedigreed or credentialed job applications” (Agness). Agness authenticates these reviews by providing averages, statistics, and theories under whether the wage gap is a myth or not. The author also provides contrasting evidence in the article to point out that,” using the statistic that women make 78 cents on the dollar as evidence of rampant discrimination has been debunked. The statistic doesn’t take into account a lot of choices that women and men make- education, years of experience and hours worked”
(Agness). Did you know that there is data on pay practices that reflect a difference in wages in the United States that affects women of all ages, races, and educational levels who are doing the same job as men? (RHETORICAL QUESTION) In fact these claims are what Kevin Miller exposes in the article, “The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap” (2017), Kevin Miller states that “not only is there a national pay gap statistic, but the pay gap can also be calculated for each state. In 2015 the pay gap was smallest in New York whereas the largest wage gap was in Wyoming” (Miller). Kevin Miller seem to address companies, individuals, and policy makers so that they can “here the changes that can help close the wage gap” (Miller).
Argument:
Imagine the plight of today’s women. Devoted wife, loving mother, and loyal employee with a doctoral degree to add and is only paid as much as men with a bachelor's degree. This paper argues that the gender wage gap in the United States is wrong in its treatment of women. Gender pay inequality perpetuates, occupational segregation by the way it oppresses women's rights, disregards their ability to be strong (leaders, wives, and mothers), and devalues the value (ENUMERATIO) women bring to the work force.
Because of the growing size of the gender wage gap women working full time in the United States earned 80 percent of what men where paid in 2015, a gap of 20 percent (and this number drops to 68% for African American women and 58% for Latinos). According to the United States Equal Pay Act of 1963, “no employer having employees should discriminate on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees… which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility”. Yet discrimination is still a contributing factor in the gender wage gap.
Gender inequality is a worrying concern in the business world. The reality is that men earn more than the working women. Although women work about just as much as men, they only earn about 80 percent of what men earn, although in every state it differs. However the gender wage gap is not only different for women but also minorities. Gender pay wage gap also effects women going into retirement and having the opportunity to retire as early as they really want because their salary is not as compatible to men. I believe that women should be paid the same as men. Being a minority female the fact that females don’t get paid as their male colleges makes me question American morals. We are supposed to be a democratic country; a country where people have freedoms and rights. Not only are women getting paid less but also minority men and women which is pointed out in the article “The Racial Wage Gap Has Not Changed in 35 Years.” The article says that “black men earned 73% of white men’s hourly earnings in 2015- the exact percentage they earned in 1980…that comes out to $14 for Hispanic, $15 for black men, $21 for white men, and $24 for Asian men in 2015” (Salyer). This shows that there is not only discrimination between genders but also in the hiring practices that are taken in the work force.
While some may argue that this pay gap doesn’t account for individual differences between workers, and doesn’t control for factors like experience, level of education, location, occupation, industry, whether they belong to a union, and breaks in employment, such statements fail to recognize that workers do not chose their industry in a vacuum. The gender pay gap is real and hurts women and children across the board by unfair pay earnings. In the Times article entitled, “5 Myths About America’s Gender Gap” (2016), Kweilin Ellingrud and Vivian Riefberg states that,” that reality is that women work about the same amount as men. This is because they do about double the amount of unpaid work as men [including household chores or shopping for groceries, and caring for children]” (Ellingrud and Riefberg). The gender wage gap is motivated by voluntary choices made by men and the choice of occupation in which they work. Many professions dominated by women are low paid and professions that have become female dominated have become lower paid. Industries are sex-segregated because women do not feel welcome there. Conscious and subconscious discrimination operates to discourage women from seeking employment and influences future generations of women from seeking higher-paying work.
We deserve better! Our sisters deserve better, our daughters, our friends… deserve better. The unfair cries of wage gap discrimination in the workplace as demonstrated by overwhelming research done by the US Census Bureau, Forbes, Times, and The Pew Research Organization cannot be ignored.
Conclusion Discrimination is still a contributing factor in the gender wage gap. Segregated pay negatively effects more than just women and minorities. Wage gap practices perpetuates separatism and unfairness, sexism, racism, and favoritism emphatically. Fight to eradicate gender wage pay and preferential pay and for all to be paid based on skill, knowledge, and experience. All employees should be treated equally for the work that they do. However, disappointingly gender inequality is a worrying concern in the business world. Discrimination had consumed enough of the world and I would like to see someone put their foot down and decide that “We’ve had enough, enough, enough (EPIZEUXIS).” I want to live in a country that I am proud to say that there is equality for all. We deserve better! Our sisters deserve better, our daughters, and our friends deserve better. The unfair cries of wage gap discrimination in the workplace cannot be ignored.
Works Cited
Carlson, O. T. "The Women's Rights Movement." PWHS: US History II. Carlson, 2015.
Web. 28 Mar. 2017. .
"The Equal Pay Act of 1963." The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA). N.p., n.d. Web. 29
Mar. 2017. .
Salyer, Kirsten. "The Racial Wage Gap Has Not Changed in 35 Years." Time. Time, 01
July 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2017. .
Ellingrud, Kweilin, and Vivian Riefberg. "5 Myths About America's Gender Gap." Time. Time, 07 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2017. .
Agness, Karin. "Don't Buy Into The Gender Pay Gap Myth." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 Apr. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
"The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (Spring 2017)." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
people tend to lean towards the conservative side and believe a variety of factors that can explain the evidence many have used to argue the existence of such a gap. These factors, which will be explained in greater detail, include the educational choice of men versus women, the jobs that women tend to take, as well as the career paths they choose to pursue. On the opposite side some believe wage gap exists with indisputable evidence that proves the existence of the gender wage gap after the Equal Pay Act’s creation. They believe that this issue is a serious problem that continues to negatively impact women and the amount that they make in comparison to their male counterparts every day. The people who tend to be on this side of the argument have based their opinions on a set of factors they believe prove the existence of the wage gap, However, the shorter term picture in the United States has been somewhat mixed. In spite of its narrowing, the gender pay gap persists. Even though women have increased their presence in high-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as professional and managerial positions, women as a whole continue to work in lower- paying occupations than men do. The standard way of thinking about the issue of gender wage gap is that wage should exist because women are considered inferior to men or that society doesn’t think that this topic is important. The idea of equal pay means that workers should be compensated fairly for what the work that they doing, regardless of race, gender, or physical ability (PARALLELISM). When it comes to gender wage gap, most of us readily agree that people should get paid for their hard work.
Literature Review In the man-dominated world, journalist, Karin Agness, covers the intersection of women policy and politics for Forbes.
The only female journalist cited in this research Karin Agness wrote an article entitled “Don’t Buy into the Gender Pay Gap Myth” (2016). Journalists Kweilin Ellingrud and Vivian Riefberg claim that “significant inequality still remains, and it has huge economic costs.” The authors’ purpose is to make their readers aware of the negative implications in order to help them have a better knowledge of the facts. Ellingrud and Riefberg establish an informal and instructive (ANALOGY) tone to convince the readers to look beyond the myths and research the facts. Reporting writer, Kevin Miller, highlights in the issue by organizing the article in terms of the things that do and do not effect wage gap like pay gap by state, wage gap for women of color, numbers by race, the fact that education does not affect the pay gap, and at the end giving ways to help resolve this issue. Miller also uses graphs to show support claims and illustrates and affirms these affects to expose socioeconomic gender pay gap in …show more content…
2017.
In the article “Don’t Buy Into The Gender Pa Gap Myth” (2016), Karin Agness states,” the popular notion outside of Cambridge is that Harvard undergraduates, including the young women I met with, hit the jackpot when it comes to post-college opportunities.
And many doors will be open to them in the future that won’t be open to less pedigreed or credentialed job applications” (Agness). Agness authenticates these reviews by providing averages, statistics, and theories under whether the wage gap is a myth or not. The author also provides contrasting evidence in the article to point out that,” using the statistic that women make 78 cents on the dollar as evidence of rampant discrimination has been debunked. The statistic doesn’t take into account a lot of choices that women and men make- education, years of experience and hours worked”
(Agness). Did you know that there is data on pay practices that reflect a difference in wages in the United States that affects women of all ages, races, and educational levels who are doing the same job as men? (RHETORICAL QUESTION) In fact these claims are what Kevin Miller exposes in the article, “The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap” (2017), Kevin Miller states that “not only is there a national pay gap statistic, but the pay gap can also be calculated for each state. In 2015 the pay gap was smallest in New York whereas the largest wage gap was in Wyoming” (Miller). Kevin Miller seem to address companies, individuals, and policy makers so that they can “here the changes that can help close the wage gap” (Miller).
Argument:
Imagine the plight of today’s women. Devoted wife, loving mother, and loyal employee with a doctoral degree to add and is only paid as much as men with a bachelor's degree. This paper argues that the gender wage gap in the United States is wrong in its treatment of women. Gender pay inequality perpetuates, occupational segregation by the way it oppresses women's rights, disregards their ability to be strong (leaders, wives, and mothers), and devalues the value (ENUMERATIO) women bring to the work force.
Because of the growing size of the gender wage gap women working full time in the United States earned 80 percent of what men where paid in 2015, a gap of 20 percent (and this number drops to 68% for African American women and 58% for Latinos). According to the United States Equal Pay Act of 1963, “no employer having employees should discriminate on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees… which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility”. Yet discrimination is still a contributing factor in the gender wage gap.
Gender inequality is a worrying concern in the business world. The reality is that men earn more than the working women. Although women work about just as much as men, they only earn about 80 percent of what men earn, although in every state it differs. However the gender wage gap is not only different for women but also minorities. Gender pay wage gap also effects women going into retirement and having the opportunity to retire as early as they really want because their salary is not as compatible to men. I believe that women should be paid the same as men. Being a minority female the fact that females don’t get paid as their male colleges makes me question American morals. We are supposed to be a democratic country; a country where people have freedoms and rights. Not only are women getting paid less but also minority men and women which is pointed out in the article “The Racial Wage Gap Has Not Changed in 35 Years.” The article says that “black men earned 73% of white men’s hourly earnings in 2015- the exact percentage they earned in 1980…that comes out to $14 for Hispanic, $15 for black men, $21 for white men, and $24 for Asian men in 2015” (Salyer). This shows that there is not only discrimination between genders but also in the hiring practices that are taken in the work force.
While some may argue that this pay gap doesn’t account for individual differences between workers, and doesn’t control for factors like experience, level of education, location, occupation, industry, whether they belong to a union, and breaks in employment, such statements fail to recognize that workers do not chose their industry in a vacuum. The gender pay gap is real and hurts women and children across the board by unfair pay earnings. In the Times article entitled, “5 Myths About America’s Gender Gap” (2016), Kweilin Ellingrud and Vivian Riefberg states that,” that reality is that women work about the same amount as men. This is because they do about double the amount of unpaid work as men [including household chores or shopping for groceries, and caring for children]” (Ellingrud and Riefberg). The gender wage gap is motivated by voluntary choices made by men and the choice of occupation in which they work. Many professions dominated by women are low paid and professions that have become female dominated have become lower paid. Industries are sex-segregated because women do not feel welcome there. Conscious and subconscious discrimination operates to discourage women from seeking employment and influences future generations of women from seeking higher-paying work.
We deserve better! Our sisters deserve better, our daughters, our friends… deserve better. The unfair cries of wage gap discrimination in the workplace as demonstrated by overwhelming research done by the US Census Bureau, Forbes, Times, and The Pew Research Organization cannot be ignored.
Conclusion Discrimination is still a contributing factor in the gender wage gap. Segregated pay negatively effects more than just women and minorities. Wage gap practices perpetuates separatism and unfairness, sexism, racism, and favoritism emphatically. Fight to eradicate gender wage pay and preferential pay and for all to be paid based on skill, knowledge, and experience. All employees should be treated equally for the work that they do. However, disappointingly gender inequality is a worrying concern in the business world. Discrimination had consumed enough of the world and I would like to see someone put their foot down and decide that “We’ve had enough, enough, enough (EPIZEUXIS).” I want to live in a country that I am proud to say that there is equality for all. We deserve better! Our sisters deserve better, our daughters, and our friends deserve better. The unfair cries of wage gap discrimination in the workplace cannot be ignored.
Works Cited
Carlson, O. T. "The Women's Rights Movement." PWHS: US History II. Carlson, 2015.
Web. 28 Mar. 2017. .
"The Equal Pay Act of 1963." The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA). N.p., n.d. Web. 29
Mar. 2017. .
Salyer, Kirsten. "The Racial Wage Gap Has Not Changed in 35 Years." Time. Time, 01
July 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2017. .
Ellingrud, Kweilin, and Vivian Riefberg. "5 Myths About America's Gender Gap." Time. Time, 07 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2017. .
Agness, Karin. "Don't Buy Into The Gender Pay Gap Myth." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 Apr. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
"The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (Spring 2017)." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.