In 2010, President Obama addressed the issue of the gender wage gap in a written statement that stated “even in 2010, women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn”. The president also put pressure on the committee to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act that gives women the right to sue their employees if they’re not being paid the same as men, provided they have the same skills, experience and education. The act takes immediate steps to narrow down the wage gap, if it actually existed. Nevertheless, despite that bill being passed, many argue that the wage gap is a result of “sex discrimination”. They believe in this part of the world, women are drawing even with men in terms of education and experience, yet men are paid more and do better than women at work.
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.
Several studies were conducted by Linda Babcock to prove that the thesis she included was correct. “To explore this question, Linda conducted a study that looked at the starting salaries...looked exclusively at gender, the difference was fairly large.” (Linda Babcock, Sara Laschever, Women Don’t Ask). Linda’s studies proved that when comparing male and female salaries, the difference was significant, specifically, male salaries were
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.
This is not only a case of discrimination with race but also against women with the idea that when jobs filled mostly by women are judged "comparable" to jobs filled mostly by men, wages for both should be the same. Posner states, “The central economic question relating to employment discrimination against women is explaining the persistently higher average wage of men compared to women (women’s wages per hour are on average about 60% of men’s wages)”. Another issue is Mandatory retirement, which is the age at which
Gender Inequality: Gender-inequality theories recognize that women's location in, and experience of, social situations are not only different but also unequal to men's. Liberal feminists argue that women have the same capacity as men for moral reasoning and agency, but that patriarchy, particularly the sexist patterning of the division of labor, has historically denied women the opportunity to express and practice this reasoning. Women have been isolated to the private sphere of the household and, thus, left without a voice in the public sphere. Even
In terms of gender inequalities, cases still come forward that include unequal pay between a female manager and a male manager. The groups that have been identified by society: gender, skin color, and class that you were born into should not determine your treatment or revenue. Inequality will forever be a struggle in anytime of organization, the constitution is on the right track, but there is still a lot of progress to make. Everybody has his or her own opinion and side to take regarding inequality in America. Frances Moore Lappe, author of 18 books including Getting a Grip
AAUW published an article titled “The Simple Truth About the Pay Gap”. This article mainly talks about the existing gap in pay between women and men. To be specific the article explains what the pay gap is and does it still exist. It also points out how the pay gap affect women of different demographics; is there a pay gap in all jobs; how can individuals make a difference; and lastly what should one do if he or she experiences sex discrimination (The simple truth about the pay gap, 2011). In addition to the article, AAUW did post several video on its official web site about inequalities in pay.
Today, hundreds of thousands of less qualified citizens are hired for jobs over other citizens, who are more than qualified for that position, all because of race (www.adversity.net). This is ridiculous and puts limitations on us as Americans. The more qualified, suited individual should be hired; race should not even be a factor. Is it not commonly acknowledged that we are all the same? This seems to be the case because employers are still discriminating against citizens and meeting “racial quotas”.
Pay Equity I think the Equal Pay bill is a great resolution to our current problem and I fully support it. The Equal Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act already bans discrimination in the work field on account of sex so it is ridiculous that women are still being paid less than men. If a woman has the same occupation, qualifications, and meet the same performance as the men in her job place and is still being paid less than men, then she is being robbed. It is very discouraging to see that women still being mistreated in America. Women have come a long way in American history and play a vital role in our community.