Gender Payage Gap Analysis

Imagine being a hard-working woman with a successful career and a well-known name. Now picture making 0.07% of what your male counterpart is making. Unfortunately, in today's world, envisioning this is not impossible, seeing as though it is happening right now in Hollywood. Michelle Williams, a famous actress known for The Greatest Showman, made merely $1,000 when asked to reshoot certain scenes from the movie All The Money In The World. To Mark Wahlberg, William’s counterpart and equally accredited actor with numerous famous movies in his repertoire such as Ted, these reshoots added 1.5 million dollars to his bank account. With equal ability and fame, the only difference between Mark Walberg and Michelle Williams is gender. However, is that

These differences come from a variety of factors such as race, age, education, dedication, and experience. As a female citizen of the United States, I am lucky that my wage gap is not as large as wage gaps from other countries. When I enter the United States workforce, I will make 79 cents to every dollar that men make; however, if I were to work in Canada I would make even less, seeing as though Canadian women only make 73.5 cents compared to Canadian men (Schieder; Grant). If the gender wage gap lessens at the same rate each year as it is now, Caucasian women would see equal pay around the year 2059. African American women will wait until the year 2124 merely because the color of their skin is different from others. The worst wait is for Hispanic women; equality in pay will not come to them until 2233 (“Pay”). An analysis by Oxfam Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives explains the influence of different factors on the gender wage gap by saying that the gender wage gap is not merely because the stereotypical woman works less than men or because women have a different degree of education or experience. The analysis states that “Even when all of these factors are considered, the result remains the same: a wage gap” (Grant). Although it is clear that aspects such as schooling and experience within an occupation play a role in deciding if a gap should be

One of these constituents is mental health. Now I know that mental health and the gender wage gap seem to be on two opposite spectrums, but their connections run deeper than it seems at face value. For women, our expectations are overflowing whether it be staying home with the children when they are sick, caring for elderly parents, making lunches and dinner, being a supportive spouse, or cleaning the house. As if the responsibilities at home are not enough, we are expected to go to work and tolerate unfair compensation and psychological abuse from the dominant men in charge. At some point, we as women are bound to hit a breaking point. An article by Columbia University describes what happens when women try to balance all of this at once. The article explains that Johnathan Platt, a Ph.D. student in Epidemiology at Columbia University, created a survey and found that when women make less than their male counterparts not only are they two and a half times more likely to experience depression but also as much as four times more likely to deal with anxiety (“Wage”). As if disturbing our mental health is not enough, I believe the gender wage gap also affects our self-confidence as women. For women, we do not need another excuse to feel that we are inadequate, especially because we are told daily; however, the gender wage gap does just that. Unfortunately, at