The gender wage gap
SOC 436 Topic 6 Discussion Question 1
Examine the gender wage gap in Table 11.3 on page 344 of the textbook. Identify three contributing factors to the changes noted and three contributing factors to this continued practice. How can it be rectified? Explain.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
The gender wage gap
Introduction
The gender wage gap is the difference between what men and women earn for doing the same work. In this article, we’ll look at how big that gap is and how to fix it.
Stats
The gender wage gap is the difference between what women earn compared to men. It’s not just a matter of getting paid less, but also being paid less for the same work. This means that not only do women earn less than men overall, but they also tend to receive lower wages compared to their male counterparts in every single occupation and industry.
The statistics are pretty grim: Women make up 47% of the U.S. workforce but only account for 20% of all managers—and even these numbers aren’t completely accurate because they don’t take into account race or ethnicity factors (which would alter this statistic). In other words: if you’re a woman working in any job at all, chances are good that your salary will be significantly lower than your male counterparts’.
How to fix it
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Re-examine your hiring practices. You can’t fix the wage gap if you don’t even know what it is.
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Offer flexible work arrangements (if you have them). If you have a lot of people in management roles, it’s time to look at how they’re paid and whether they should be getting more money than their employees do.
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Establish a pay equity policy that meets legal requirements and helps ensure fair treatment for all workers, regardless of gender or race/ethnicity.* Make sure that pay for performance isn’t based on gender but instead based on performance levels—and then reward employees accordingly!
What is the gender wage gap?
The gender wage gap is the difference between men’s and women’s earnings. It is not a measure of discrimination, or a woman’s worth as an employee or employee-to-be. The term “gender pay gap” does not refer to how much money you make; it refers instead to how much your employer pays for each task you perform.
The reason for this can be attributed to differences in career choices, experience levels and education levels among both men and women — factors outside of one’s control that affect earnings potential over time (or even just day-to-day).
Still need evidence that the gender wage gap is real?
If you need more evidence that the gender wage gap is real, here are a few statistics:
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Women earn less than men. According to a 2015 report released by The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), “women earn an average hourly wage of $.77 compared with $1.00 for men.”
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Women are paid less than men for the same work. The IWPR study found that women were paid $0.77 cents per dollar earned by men in 2012—a difference that has remained fairly consistent over time.*
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Women are underrepresented in high-paying jobs and leadership roles.* According to Pew Research Center data from June 2018, there are fewer than 49% women in executive positions across all industries; this number drops even further when looking only at STEM fields (science technology engineering and math).
Takeaway:
The gender wage gap is real, and it needs to be fixed. The good news is that there are ways to help narrow the gap.
Conclusion
The gender wage gap is real. It’s not going to be fixed overnight, but it can be fixed over time by increasing the number of women in leadership positions and ensuring that they have the resources they need to succeed. As a society, we need to work towards better equality for all genders—it’s as simple as that!
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