The Wage Gap In America

Every day, from almost every company, in every part of the world, millions of men and women receive unequal wages in their day to day careers. Even here in America, with over 77,000 workers ("Workers Paid Hourly Rates" 1), there are drastic differences between ranks. "In 2014, female full-time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men" ("Equality and Discrimination" 1). However, the diversity occurs not just between men and women, but also between races. The female wage gap appears largest for Hispanic and Latina women, who were paid only 54% of what white men, were paid in 2014 (Hill 4). While countless Americans may not see an obstacle, that is exactly the issue. In order for a healthier nation to exist with a better basis
of understanding, each race and gender must stand on an equal plane. This can never happen when one faction is perpetually denied the same as another based on the belief that they are flawed in comparison. In order to solve such issues, possible solutions include pay transparency and a banning of negotiations.
When it comes to finding solutions to such problems as these, advocates clamour for a higher education level for all people involved. Despite this however, "At every level of academic achievement, women’s median earnings are less than men’s median earnings, and in some cases, the gender pay gap is larger at higher levels of education" (Hill 5). Therefore, in order for a true solution to work, more drastic measures must be taken; one from the employers' side instead of just the employees. Pay transparency, as experts explain, is one possible solution. As researchers describe, "When women are not able to discuss their salaries with their colleagues, they often cannot tell when they are making less than their male colleagues for doing the same job" (Glynn, Fisher, and Baxter 3). With pay transparency however, all employees in any given field know what the other gets for an equal job. This will allow for every race and gender to achieve equal pay for an equal work.
While a wage gap does exist between races, it has always been inconsistent and therefore does not have only one true solution to work for everyone.
For women however, a possible solution can come from a banning of negotiations for the hiring of employees. Negotiations are a problem today because "only 7% of the female graduates negotiated for a higher salary, but 57% of the men asked for more money" (Elsesser 4). While these numbers appear insulting in themselves, it is also proven in multiple studies that women perform poorly in comparison to men during negotiations (Elsesser 4). Some negotiations can be small in their results, but these difference can add up immensely over the course of a lifetime in income and interest, especially if said money is invested. Another way employers must take a step to equality comes from regular schedules. As some advocate, "workers risk losing their job because they lack the flexibility to alter their schedules when they need to take their child to the dentist or pick up a sick child from school—tasks that are more likely to fall to mothers than fathers" (Glynn, Fisher, and Baxter 3). Allowing all workers to have an equal access to a stable schedule will help all of them plan their schedules and consequently keep their
jobs.
"According to [IWPR's] research, if change continues at the same slow pace as it has done for the past fifty years, it will take 44 years—or until 2059—for women to finally reach pay parity " ("Equality and Discrimination" 1).
However, not all families can wait till 2059. While not every problem has a solution, in this case pay transparency and the elimination of negotiations, if put in use, could at least help the issues at hand and help lower the wage gap between genders if not also between races. In this case, however, pay transparency may beat out limiting negotiations. It will allow workers to know what they will be getting from every company, and thus people from all over the world can begin to stand on more equal
ground.