“On average, a woman working full-time in 2016 earned £5,732 less a year than a man.”
“The gender pay gap reduces women’s lifetime earnings and also affects their pensions – this is one of the significant causes of poverty in later life for women.”
“In terms of women in leadership positions, in 2009 only 24 percent of CEOs in the US were women and they earned 74.5 percent as much as male CEOs” (BLS 2010 p.9).
The gender gap in the workplace is an on-going issue, and further highlights a form of inequality seen in American culture. As addressed in my previous blogs, I discussed the inequality issue in Hollywood, the inequality in the Presidential cabinet selection, and now I am choosing to discuss a broader, but heavily noted topic of gender inequality. The gender gap in the workplace started early on when women began working; research shows evidence from the 1960’s; trends show that the gap has been closing, but at a very slow rate, “Since the Equal Pay Act was signed in 1963, the wage gap has been closing at a very slow rate. In 1963, women who worked full-time, year-round made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men. In 2010, women earned 77 cents to men’s dollar. That means that the wage gap has narrowed by less than half a cent per year!”
“It wasn’t until the passage of the Equal Pay Act on June 10, 1963 (effective June 11, 1964) that it became illegal to pay women lower rates for the same job strictly on the basis of their sex.” Although the intent of the equal pay act was meant to eradicate gender inequality in the workplace the wage gap is still significant. Two court cases were meant to strengthen the equal pay act, but there is still a large pay difference. Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co. and Corning Glass Works V Brennan both exemplify cases to mitigate this inequality.
Some reasons people believe women receive less pay then men is due to pure discrimination. Women’s skills are not valued as highly as men, and therefore receive a lower means of compensation. In the United States, the gender pay gap looks at the ratio of male to female yearly earnings. In 2012, women received 77% as much as male workers. This percentage, although low, rose significantly in the past decade from 60% to 77%. The inequality seen in the workplace is definitely improving, but is still present today; having problems with gender inequality seems quite absurd for 2016. As stated in my earlier blogs, I was quite clear that America’s values center around the fact that each citizen in America has equal rights and opportunities. Yet, this gap still exists in America. The only measure that can be taken to address this means of inequality is to bring greater attention to it, and continue working towards equal opportunity.
These facts below show percentages of reasons for the gap existing in the workplace:
- 22% of the gap is due to industries and occupations in which women work
- 21% of the gap is due to difference in years of full-time work
- 16% of the gap is due to the negative effect on wages of having previously worked part-time or of having taken time out of the labour market to look after family
- only 5% of the gap is due to formal education levels
I am not a feminist, and believe there are certain roles that men do better than women, but I also think there are roles women are better fit for than men. Coming from an unbiased and honest standpoint, I think the facts show that there is a gap in the workplace that favors men over women, and this should not exist. Especially not today. It is surprising to me that when women are performing the same tasks as men they receive less compensation. Who decided that women did not deserve the same pay as men?
Evidence shows women are consistently paid less for doing the same work as men, which is disturbing; modern society should move away from this gap of inequality. “Based on research, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimated in 2015 that women won’t receive equal pay until 2059.” This is not reassuring, and is in fact disturbing that women should receive this treatment, especially in today’s society.
Inequality proves to be a major issue in civic life, effecting various people in different ways. Whether it has to do with race, education, economics, or gender it is all present and relevant to our life as citizens. As I continue my blog on this issue more examples will demonstrate the prominence of the existence of this civic issue for our nation.
https://www.summer.harvard.edu/inside-summer/gender-inequality-women-workplace
http://www.ilo.org/washington/areas/gender-equality-in-the-workplace/WCMS_159496/lang–en/index.htm
While many sources say that men and women are equal, I can not help but think of the Middle East where women are not allowed to drive and can only have one husband while their husband can have many wives. In the United States, it is not as prevalent, but there is definitely differences between the genders. One thing that I see is how often people talk about how behaviors between men and women differ. This creates different groups for the genders and people can create prejudices based simply off this group which is unhealthy for a society. One way I can see this affecting women is that in the past, women stayed home and took care of the household while men worked. Since the older generation are running the workforce in more administrative roles, these old views may have had an effect. Regardless, I think it is an issue that has to be addressed. Every person provides a new input and I feel that is valuable in any workforce. One thing I will note is that while most statistics are accurate, some compare similar but different jobs, which in turn would have different salaries and do not accurately represent the problem. Great post!