The Gender Pay Gap in the United States For centuries, women have been subject to many different types of inequalities. Consequently, they are subjects of disadvantages every day. From politics, economics, education, and even health care, gender inequality exists everywhere. One of the biggest problems this causes is a distribution of wealth between men and women. Even though this has been a persistent issue to date, there has been little talk of change. Critics of gender inequality are quick to place blame on the government or businesses for not hiring women, but do not suggest a way of destroying the inequality altogether. The first step of this process is to give women the equal chance of economic success as men have. This means addressing …show more content…
A study done by William R. Doyle, an assistant professor of higher education at Vanderbilt University claims, that the number of women in the workforce affects the size of the wage gap. He concludes that as the number of women in the workforce rose, therefore, the gap decreased due to more women comprising a part of the economy. Another reason that the gender wage gap got smaller over time was due to congress enacting the Equal Pay Act. This is because throughout history the government, although unsuccessfully, have tried to get rid of or lessen the gender pay gap. According to Paul Weiler a professor of law at Harvard Law school, during president Kennedy’s time in office Kennedy encountered problems with the gender pay gap and imposed a ban on it he called the Equal Pay act of 1963. However, Congress did not agree with it trying everything except following through with the ban. In the end although Congress imposed the Equal Pay act preventing companies from discriminating based on sex for same wage jobs (6). Although there has been a gradual increase in the amount that women make compared to men it is nowhere near what it should be. This is because throughout history Congress was the force that was against getting rid of the gender pay gap and therefore delayed any process that would narrow the
In 2009 President Obama signed into law the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (The Whitehouse, n.d.). The major provisions of this Act prohibits wage discrimination based on sex, race, or national origin among employees for work in equivalent jobs. According to National Committee on Pay Equity (n.d.), the Act defines “equivalent jobs are those who’s composite of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions are equivalent in value, even if the jobs are dissimilar.” Today women earn roughly seventy-nine cents for every dollar earned by men. Atchinson, Belcher, and Thornsen (2013) state that women have entered the workforce not only because of increased educational opportunities but also because of the need for two paychecks in many families
Equality for Women Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” set a strong foundation that began the movement towards equality for women. Since her declaration was first presented at the Seneca Falls Convention, there has been considerable improvement in women’s rights. Although most issues she originally brought up have been resolved, there are a few that still need improvement, including the wage gap between men and women, representation in the workforce, and self-image of women. One big issue that remains prominent today in the United States is the gender wage gap, where men are making quite a bit more money that women.
Money, it is the most vital and materialistic component of any economic culture that virtually defines an individual; the crux of what brings countries together in unity. How is it, though, that a piece of paper uniting countries, can tear another country to shreds from the inside out. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a key point in the history of the U.S. that helped to reveal the “secret” of unfair pay between the sexes, and reassemble the country as a whole once more: though this act is far from perfect, and there is still a great deal of skepticism from numerous people of the women’s party, the Equal Pay Act was instated, and is under the constant act of revision, to create a fairer environment across the nation by bringing attention to an
Today, women work in various jobs taking impactful roles in countries and established businesses worldwide. Even though the wage gap doesn't yield a perfect 1:1 ratio, the gap is steadily decreasing with the constant efforts led by
The facts have been laid out plain and simple the gender wage gap is still something very persitant in society. Still some people argue that gender in the workplace doesnt matter. Like In article The Gender Wage Gap Is a Myth by Stephen Jarosek, Jaroske argues that the wage gap is not an example of gender bias, but instead is the result of women making the choice not to work or to work fewer hours. He claims that women and men simply make different choices in the work world and that many men are more willing to sacrifice personal time to commit to work while many women are not. He does by using several stastics to show the gender wage has been a myth all along.
“When women succeed, America succeeds” ~President Barack Obama Imagine being a hard-working woman with a successful career and a well-known name. Now imagine making 0.07% of what your male counterpart is making. Unfortunately, in today's world, imagining this is not impossible, seeing as though it is happening right now in Hollywood.
While women make up half of today’s workforce, they make seventy-nine cents to every dollar a man makes ("Pay Equity & Discrimination." — IWPR. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.). To put it in perspective, for every $60,000 a man makes, a women only makes $47,400. The Equal Pay Act of of 1963 prohibited companies from determining pay based on the gender of the worker.
Gender equality: the pinnacle concept that American society is not-so desperately trying to achieve. Many Americans have convinced themselves that gender equality was remedied by the Nineteenth Amendment and the Second Feminist Movement, and have not considered the thousands of steps that are left on the journey. In recent years, a matter of public interest has been the gender wage gap, stating that women are earning significantly less money than men for doing an equivalent amount of work. Critics of the effort to “break the glass ceiling” claim that a pay gap does not exist, and that if it does, it is because women either do not work as hard, have to tend to their families, or hold lower paying jobs. However, the gender pay gap has been proven to exist in a variety of different forms,
In 1963, Congress responded to the pressure of the 2nd Wave of Feminism by passing the Equal Pay Act, which was put in place to “prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages”. This act, although not completely closed the wage gap, helped women earn more money for labor than they had in the past. Additionally, Title IX of the Civil Rights Act created in 1964 banned employment discrimination based on gender. This helped women face exclusion from employers who had previously barred women entrance into the workforce. As the feminists did in the 1920s, women of the 2nd Wave pressed for an equal rights amendment (ERA) that would overturn state or federal laws that discriminated against women.
It may be 2018, but the gender pay gap is still here, why is that? Women have been and still are getting a lower pay than men to do the same job. Women are doing equal if not more work, but somehow make less. The following paragraphs will explain what is happening today like the fact that over time men 's pay increases more than women 's does. Besides that I will also mention that not just white women make less than men other cultures make even less than them, and I also will share real people speaking up about them being paid less than men.
Throughout history, women have gone from having no rights at all to very little rights in the working field to finally being treated equal to man. However, even today women are still viewed as being the minority. Women had been perceived as evil human beings who were considered weak. Being a wife and mother were women’s most significant professions. Later, women slowly spoke up and earned the right to work, but was still limited on what they participated in.
Annotated Bibliography Quast, L. (2015, November 22). The Gender Pay Gap Issue Is Fixable -- But May Require Bolder Actions To Overcome. Retrieved from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2015/11/22/the-gender-pay-gap-issue-is-fixable-but-may-require-bolder-actions-to-overcome/2/ It is reported by the Economic Policy Institute that although women had made tremendous records entering into workforce and gain great successes in education, but their wage is 83% comparing to men. The world forum also released a report in 2015 that women now make as much as men earned a decade ago.
“When women succeed, America succeeds” These are the words former President Obama spoke during his State of the Union Speech. Although history is comprised of male dominance in many parts of the world, most women have the ability to operate as effectively as men, and therefore deserve equal pay. The wage gap between men and women is a highly debated topic. There are several people who think the gender wage gap was put to a stop and does not exist anymore since the Equal Pay act of 1963 was enacted, however this is not the case. The Equal Pay Act was enacted to abolish wage disparity because of gender.
The United States is currently facing an economical problem that involves males and female differences within the workplace. Males are given bigger and sometimes even better rewards for doing equal amounts of work as their female counterparts. Females are frequently not receiving the same wage even if they can complete the same job of a male. Also, females are less likely to get promoted within their job if they are competing against a male. A source states, “Women are now more likely to have college degrees than men, yet they still face a pay gap in every single education level,
Inequality against women is historical, global and persistent. The gender inequality gap in access to and control over productive resources such as land, natural resources, credit facilities, technology and other means of production correlates with women’s poverty and socioeconomic exclusion (Agarwal, 2007; Doss et al, 2006; UN Women and OHCHR, 2013; Commission on the Status of Women, 2014), whereas access to and control of assets is central to women’s socioeconomic wellbeing (World Survey, 2009; Meinzen-Dick et al, 2011; Dickson and Bangpan, 2012; UN Women and OHCHR, 2013). For this reason, global attempts towards development have in recent times, given much responsiveness to gender gap issues to ensure that men and women have equal gains