Gender Wage Gap

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The gender wage gap continues to be a growing problem in America for women in nearly every profession. Today in the United States, full-time working women were being paid just 79 percent of what their male counterparts were paid (Hill 1). That is a gap of a shocking 21 percent! The pay gap does not seem to be going away anytime soon either. Over the past decade, the gap has barely budged. If the gap continues at this rate, it will not be close for more than one hundred years. That is too long of a time for women to be paid unequally to men. Something must change in the workforce system so that pay is equal among both genders. Many factors are considered when comparing the wage gap, such as location, education and race, however, these elements …show more content…
Although this may sound promising, another shocking statistic is that the pay gap has stalled in recent years and will not go away on its own without the help of fellow Americans. The difference of pay varies throughout the states in America. In some places, such as Louisiana and Utah, women only get paid a mere 65 percent of their male counterparts. This makes the gap jump to a disgusting 35 percent wage gap between the genders. The smallest gap can be found in metropolitan areas, such as Washington, D.C., where women get paid about 90 percent of what men are paid. This being said, not every woman can move to a metropolitan area just so they might get paid a similar amount to their opposite sex. Most families these days are becoming more dependent on women’s wages however, a full time working woman is generally paid less than a full time working man. Women represent nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers (Tableau 1). A family depending only on a woman who makes minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, and has at least two children can be put below the poverty line by several of thousands of dollars. If America had equal pay for both genders, families would not have to consider relocating their families just so they could pay the bills. Gender wage equality is needed in the workforce so that location should not have to be a concerning factor in a woman’s …show more content…
Some jobs suffer more severely than others. For example, female financial specialists are paid just 66 percent of what comparable men are paid, while female doctors and surgeons make about 71 percent of what their male counterparts earn. On average, females that graduate college with an M.B.A. earn up to $4,600 less than their male classmates for their first jobs. Job opportunities can be slim for women. Prejudice can be a huge factor in the hiring and firing component of a company. In most structurally sound companies and businesses, there is a noticeable lack of senior jobs held by women. Also, studies have shown that men are more likely to receive bonuses simply because it is what keeps them from quitting their job. Because men usually threaten to leave and women typically stay and attempt to work harder, men collect more bonuses because the idea of them leaving would be a detriment to the business they are working