Gender Pay Gap

Words: 1355
Pages: 6

Brunner and Rowen (2007) explain that during World War II, women entered the workforce in large numbers. At this time, the government urged employers to pay both genders equally. Most companies did not adhere to these urges. In 1963, congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which made it illegal to pay women less than men solely based on their sex. Since that time, the public, academics, and politicians have widely discussed equal pay between males and females. Some fight for equality while others insist the problem stretches beyond equality. The pay gap impacts us every day as studies evaluate workplaces and Congress considers new legislation. A gender pay gap exists, and elementary students, striving for popularity, cause it. Since non-academic …show more content…
The study showed that unexplained factors cause 41.1 percent of the pay gap, but observable factors cause the remaining 58.9 percent. Blau and Kahn were surprised to find, in their sub-sample, women had higher levels of education. They noted that women having higher education eliminates 6.7 percent of the pay gap. These findings remove the level of education as a cause of the pay gap. Union status causes 3.5 percent of the wage gap. 10.5 percent can be contributed to job experience. The category of industry chosen by males and females accounts for 21.9 percent. Finally, occupational choices made by males and females contribute 27.4 percent to the gap. Looking at these statistics, we can see that unexplained factors, industry choices, and occupational choices create a large majority of the wage …show more content…
The first contributor involves girls’ family background, such as the socioeconomic status and permissiveness of their parents. Girls’ physical attractiveness contributes to their popularity because the topic often arises in discussions amongst peers. Like males, females’ social skills play an important role in their popularity. However, girl’s social skills involve more inclusive and exclusive motives than boys’. In Adler, Kless, and Adler’s report, females that obtained high academic success were just as likely to obtain popularity as less academically successful girls (182). Male popularity focuses on direct competition, power, and demonstrating success in certain areas, while females have a more socially rooted, less directly competitive popularity contest. Borman and Frankel found in their study that females in elementary engage in more social, simple activities than boys do. The activities often involve small groups doing individual activities together. These social, nurturing activities correlate with the lower paying, social or nurturing