Reasons For Wage Gap Between Men And Women Essay Examples

A 2010 research assessment by the mainstream staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress testified that repeated studies have consistently discovered unexplained differences in pay even after controlling for quantifiable factors that are mostly assumed to influence the earnings of men and women. The Committee ascribed this truth to pure gender discrimination. Also, other studies have established direct evidence of prejudice – for instance, more jobs had gone to women when the sex of the applicants was unknown during the process of hiring. Even as higher qualification and education increase the overall earnings of women, in fact, education is incapable of closing the pay gap between men and women. Women are earning less than men for doing same work at all levels of education and the gap widens for people with very advanced degrees when compared with mere high school education. For example, in the year 2006, women high school teachers only earned 69 percent of the earnings of their male counterparts. Also the earnings of women plummeted to 66 percent of the men’s for people with advanced degrees, reports U.S. Statistical Abstract Report. Even as gender pay gap influences all working women, the shortfall in U.S. is still worse for colored women. The younger generation of women, even though educated and trained on par with men at all levels and have equal competence, are discriminated at the workplace by offering a lesser pay for the same work.
One of the major reasons for the discrimination in wage even though both men and women are doing the same work could be due to the fact that mostly a woman’s job experience gets abbreviated whenever she takes maternity leave or take leave to care for the children. These reasons put a woman at a greater disadvantage when compared with her male counterpart. There are also industries that exclusively hire either men or women. Blue collar employment-providers like the mining, construction and manufacturing industries mostly employ men alone whereas organizations in the service sector mainly employ women for clerical roles and pay them less salaries. Even though 60 percent of the wage gap associated with gender is attributable for easier and flexible jobs for women, the remaining 40 percent gap is still unexplained. This makes it clear that there is no obvious reason behind the wage disparity between men and women. Thus, the possible explanations for the gender wage gap could be evident sexism, unintentional discrimination and reluctant attitude of women toward negotiating a higher pay equal to their men counterparts.
Even though higher education is found as a factor of mitigation by women to counter wage discrimination, a higher qualification than men for doing the same job and earning on par with men too is indeed discrimination. For instance, a woman may require a doctorate to earn a pay equal to a man having only a bachelor’s degree, and a woman with a bachelor’s degree may earn something equal to a man with a mere high school education. The truth is, many times even a higher education does not help women to earn a pay equal to men. Also, many companies forbid their employees to discuss their salaries, and hence male and female employees even though know each other well and trust one another, they never openly discuss about their salaries. Conversely, since women do not have any idea about the pay for a particular job, they tend to undervalue themselves and shy away from negotiating a fair wage.
The stereotypes associated with certain jobs make women unfit for certain jobs. For example, women are not preferred for jobs related to heavy industries, which ultimately prevents women from advancing in certain fields presently dominated by men. Similarly, even though women manage to enter such industries and do jobs normally done by men, the prevailing prejudice plays havoc on her earnings. Besides, the works traditionally done by women like house cleaning, child care and catering continue to be undervalued compared to traditional works done by men in heavy industries like construction and electrical engineering. The Business Insider reported in 2009 that only a mere 7 percent of women professionals were working in the comparatively high paying engineering and computer field jobs as against 38 percent of professional men. Women professionals on the other hand are far more widespread in the comparatively low-paying fields like health care and education. Interestingly, stereotypes about works exist within industries. For instance, within the profession of health, men are preferred for works relatively warranting high-specialization and high-stress like complicated surgeries, while female medical professionals are more likely to settle for a career as a dentist or a pediatrician that pays a lesser salary. Thus, stereotypes associated with gender and job potential are a strong and valid reason for wage disparity among male and female job goers.
The U.S. Census Bureau data reveals an interesting fact; unmarried women, who never availed maternity leave, earn more than unmarried men. This suggests that women are equally capable of men if not more. Still, the reason why married women earn less than men is that their family responsibilities either reduce their productivity or guide them to settle for less paying jobs or make them shy away from asking for an equal pay with men. Another shocking news revealed by business Insider is that women independent business owners earn less than half of independent male business owners. The Rochester Institute of Technology unraveled the mystery by discovering that against 29 percent of women business owners motivated by money, 76 percent of male business owners had money as their prime motivator. Besides, women business owners preferred safety, shorter working weeks, autonomy and fulfillment.
The pay gap existing between male and female genders continues to maintain shocking levels of economic inequality between men and women for no apparent cause other than their gender difference. This in a sense puts women vulnerable during eventualities like a broken marriage or death of a spouse. Recognizing the potential of women workers is therefore highly essential to narrow down the wage disparity existing among male and female workers. The main reason for women to compromise on their salary or career is their commitment toward caring for the children, elderly and the sick at home. Men need to share the responsibilities in households where both the spouses are employed since a better wage to the wife ultimately benefits the family. Apart from strengthening the equal pay law through prohibiting vengeance against employees for discussing their wages, overcoming the stereotypes associated with women workers by projecting women achievers in various fields, particularly in the fields traditionally dominated by men, would also help in bringing out the real potential of women workers which ultimately helps narrow down the pay gap between male and female workers.