Gender Wage Gap Rough Draft
Although it has been improved, the wage gap between genders is still an issue. On average, women only earn about 79 cents of a man’s dollar (“New Report Examines… ”). While some believe that the gender wage gap is not an issue, women are still making less and hold fewer senior positions than men, thus it is important to raise awareness about this gap and pass legislation to ensure income equality.
First of all, it is important for women to get paid equally to men for doing the same work. Signed by John F. Kennedy on June 10th, 1963, the Equal Pay Act supposedly made it illegal to pay women less based only on their gender. The only way they would be allowed to pay women differently from men would be due to seniority, experience or merit (Holunga). Before this act, women in the 1950s made about 40% less than men (Holunga). However, even though the Equal Pay Act was passed, recent statistics show that women are still not paid equally to men.
Today, there is still a gap between wages. Women still get paid about 21% less than men, meaning women are paid less than 4 dollars for every 5 dollars paid to men. Wages depend on age as well; women ages 18-24 earn about 88% of what men earn,
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For Hispanic and Latina women, the pay gap is the largest, with them making only about 54% of what a white man makes (Holunga). For African American women, it is the second largest pay gap with them earning only about 60% of what white men earn. On average, women contribute about 40% of their family’s total income (“New Report Examines… ”). However, they face problems with lagging behind their male counterparts if they become mothers and have to take care of their children. There is also a correlation between smaller gender wage gaps for women before they have children (Holunga). Mothers and Hispanic and Latina women have an unfair disadvantage that they have to work harder to