A “gendered division of labor” exists across the globe. A 1980
United Nations report stated that women do two thirds of the world’s work, garner 10% of wages world wide, and own 1% of the world’s property (Lorber, 2005). The workplaces of indus
-
trialized nations demonstrate a curious paradox. While research shows that companies which encourage diversity and promote women to leadership roles have higher levels of financial perfor
-
mance than companies with less diversity, women’s earnings are still significantly less than men’s (Compton, 2007).
Great Britain, like the US, has grabbled with the existence of the gender pay gap for many years. The US passed the Equal
Pay Act in 1963 and Great Britain instituted its own Equal Pay
Act
…show more content…
In 1970 the pay differential in Great Britain between men and women’s wages was 30%. Four decades later the gender pay gap hovers around 17%, and is the highest of all EU countries
(De Vita, 2008). Some project that, at the present rate, the dispar
-
ity in wages won’t be eliminated for another 20 years (De Vita,
2008). The question remains, if women are legally guaranteed equal pay, and if promoting women is generally recognized as good for business, why do women still earn less than men? The causes of the gender wage gap are various and complex.
The fact that many women choose to leave their jobs in order to have children is often identified as one reason for the wage gap. Proponents of this theory argue that, statistically, women earn less than men because some women do not hold paying, full-time jobs, thus dragging down women’s average wages.
However, most studies of the wage gap only count the earnings of women who work full-time. These studies reveal that of the women who do work full-time, those with children under the age of 18 earn 97.1% of what women who do not have children earn. On the other hand, men who have children under the age of 18 earn 122% of what men without children earn