Gender inequality in the 21st century workplace? Are Women paid less than men? We’ve all heard some form or another of a income gap, whether from parents or in general, that men are paid more than women and even now in the 21st century there is still an income inequality between the two. But the question behind the myth still remains “are men justifiably paid more than women?” To really understand and break down the question, we have to consider all of the elements that go into this accusation: Are women in different jobs? Do women get paid less for the same job?
What is gender gap? The gender gap refers to the difference between men and women in the way they experience the world. There are gaps in voting patterns, crime and so on. But the most significant aspect of the gender gap is pay and income. This is called the gender pay gap.
Is gender discrimination the main reason women are paid less than men, is indeed a serious question to ponder. I am convinced that the gender division of the labor is self reinforcing and is the choice made by the gender owing to multiple reasons like physical, psychological, physiological, emotional and intelligential quotients and family societal balance and not that it is a men world paradigm. Following are my arguments and the data which support the argument from the case study and external research. • Career choices and the fitment seemed to be the major reason for the wage gap, from the fact that in 80 occupations fields, women earn more and in 39 fields they have 5% pay advantage over the men
Overall it could therefore be argued that rather than partners becoming more equal, women now have to carry a ‘dual burden’, whereby she is responsible for two jobs of unpaid or paid labour. Factors such as patriarchy and conforming to a gender script will lead to these divisions. Secondly, it could be argued that the money management within a family has an effect on the power relations between couples. Edgell argues that the reason why men are likely to take the decisions is because they earn more; women usually earn less than their husbands, and as a result of being dependant on them, have less say in the decision making. Similarly, Michelle Barrett and Mary McIntosh additionally argue that men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.
Marxist theories state that inequality is not a female issue, but a class one, for they note that middle class women are often better off than working class men. This point seems futile; can inequality not be a problem of the female and the working class male? Class aside, it is an indisputable fact that by and large, women are affected more harshly by poverty than men, in Pearce’s research into poverty in the United States, she found that two thirds of the poor who were over 16 were women. Poverty is rapidly becoming a female problem. Marxists however claim that we should focus on the eradication of capitalism, because then gender disparities will swiftly follow.
Outline and evaluate sociological explanations for social inequality (women) In the following essay I am going to be outlining and evaluating three sociological perspectives as to why women face inequalities in society. The three sociological perspectives that will be discussed are the Feminist view, Functionalist view and The Conflict Theory. In society, it is argued that women are treated in an unequal manner. Feminists would argue in society, there is a struggle between men and women. They hold the belief that power lies with men instead of the economy and the structure of society is so men are able to maintain their power.
Perez 1 Lina Perez Dr. Conway English P.5 28 February, 2011 Gender Inequality in the Trojan War In The Trojan Women and The War the Killed Achilles, the authors Nicholas Rudall and Caroline Alexander both reveal gender inequality from the view of the feminist and non-feminist perspectives. There are many examples and proofs that explain the differences between males and females in the era of the Trojan war. Such as having women work in the households, and doing dirty work while men were off at war. Men were treated better than women, and with more respect. This essay will analyze both these books and state examples of gender inequality.
However, some women joined the work force and would do jobs that men previously had held. Some were not forced to, but they had to work as hard as they could to support their families during this difficult time. In contrast, the writer Norman Cousins commented that there was a negative opinion on the women’s presence in the workforce despite women willing to acquire a living wage. He also stated in his book that the federal government proscribed holding government jobs by both members of a married couple, and many localities stopped hiring women whose husbands with a minimum wage (Cousins 1939). Another aspect of the Depression affecting life of women was the moral argument against working-women.
What often has been overlooked by those complaining about gender discrimination in the job market workplace are the choices made by the complainants. Workplace choices made by many of them (for occupations that either pay less or have very high unemployment rates) often perpetuate the disparity in income between them and white males. This is not necessarily bad, though it may seem so at first glance.
Fenjy Duval Not only do we wage wars with other countries against money, allegedly the same things can be found happening with genders. The infamous gender wage gap, although precedent throughout all time, our era of revelations has pin pointed more focus on it than ever before. The gender wage gap has increasingly improved throughout time, yet the numbers are still quite staggering. Katie Johnston, staff member at the Boston Globe, writes, “Hispanic women who clean offices and houses for a living make just 54 cents on the dollar compared with what male janitors make. Compared with their Hispanic male counterparts, Latina cleaners make just 59 percent.” This instance is only one of many that occur throughout all tiers of the economic agenda.