Category: Essay #3

Today, wage gap is a serious issue in our society. I want to explain what does mean a wage gap.  It is an inequality wage between women’s and men’s earnings; even though it is not everything. There is a caustic problem of gender wage gap. According to the article, “The simple truth about the gender pay gap”, since start of the pandemic, more women lost their jobs than men. There we are speaking about restaurants, retails, hotels, travel sectors and so forth. “… Different genders have a different path through education and training. This often stress women into fields and even specialties within fields… “There are a lot of stereotypes of gender that create additional barriers for women. Unfortunately, men and women do not have an equal term in employer’s eyes. Motherhood is penalty and fatherhood are bonus. Employers try to hire women who do not have children. They offer mothers lower salaries and fewer promotions than they offer to women without children. Meanwhile, fathers make 119% of what men without children earn. Women who have children earn 73% of what fathers earn. Additionally, there are other issues. Women have a lower salary than men, even when the job require the same level of skills, education, and trainings.  

  Additionally, there is a trouble about race. If you are a black color woman, you will have low salary than Latina or a Native American woman, but if you are a white woman, your salary will be higher.  

 Also, there are other types of gendered disparities in the workplaces. According to the “Policies to End the Gender Wage Gap in the United States”, women and men have a different kind of jobs. There are “jobs for women” and “jobs for men”. Fortunately, women made some progress pass thirty years in some realms. For example, they occupation medicine. Women made a little progress in male blue collar jobs such as constructions. “Neoclassical economists believe that women are less productive and that they choose lower-paying jobs to care for their families. Women work fewer years than men, and if they work at all, women with young children are more likely to work part-time compared to men with young families. Anticipating their family needs, women choose occupations that allow them flexibility in the hours they work, such as nursing and teaching, and they avoid jobs that require highly specific skills and knowledge that become quickly outdated, such as in physics, knowing that they may take time off to raise families.”(page 279) The problem comes from our society, and it clearly are showed in the above mentioned quote. 

  I think that there are some solutions. I believe that everything will change, but it needs time. “Rome was not built in a day”. I hope that step by step women and men will have equal terms in a different job, and they will have an appropriate salary. Although if we want to have changes, we must fight for this. I feel that if women and even men will not silence, they will have a progress. For example, no one imagined women as a bus driver, worker in a construction, as a pilot and so forth. Although today we have women who can work better in “men’s job” than even men. I hope that one day everything will change, and we will not have same problems.  

Disparities in the Workplace

The wage gap is a statistical indicator, usually used as an index to show women’s earnings relative to men’s. There has been the growth of women’s labor, and research has shown that women are even working more hours. Despite all this progress, there has been a significant wage gap between men and women. There is a difference between what women earn versus what men earn, with women earning less than men. The difference is usually seen across industries, and there have been explanations as to why it is like that. One of the reasons given for the gendered wage gap is differences in industries or jobs worked. This difference can be seen in many industries and companies (Gap, 2020). The so-called women’s jobs traditionally held by a majority female workforce, including health aides and care workers, tend to have lower pay than the so-called men’s jobs that the male workforce is most like building and construction. Another reason may be seen in terms of the differences in years of experience. In this case, we see that women are disproportionately driven out of the workforce because of duties like caregiving, which makes them have less experience than men.  This has also created the wage gap in many industries.

Another reason is differences in hours worked. In this, we see that women tend to work fewer hours as they have to accommodate caregiving and other unpaid obligations like taking care of their families. This creates a difference in payment, as men tend to work more hours. There is also the issue of discrimination, which despite being illegal it is still very rampant. Wage discrimination thrives in places where they discourage open discussions. Discrimination is usually not encouraged, especially when people are doing the same job, yet there is discrimination regarding payment.

Other types of gendered disparities in the workplace include an unfavorable recruitment strategy, which discriminates a particular gender, specifying that male candidates alone should only fill the role. This creates an unfavorable climate for candidates who want to fill job vacancies. Another disparity comes in the form where there are different opportunities where career progression in a company favors men more than women. From this, you get that most women have slower career progressions than their male counterparts. Men are given more opportunities for career progression than women that amount to bias in the company as sometimes even women who deserve promotions do not get them at all (Cundiff, & Vescio, 2016). Another disparity is holding sexist views in the workplace, like having outdated gender stereotypes that target women. The sexist views permanently curtail career progression as people tend to overlook others very much. For instance, a gender stereotype like women does not make good leaders, which curtails women’s progression in the workplace. Another disparity is sexual harassment, which usually acts of gross misconduct towards men or women, which has serious consequences. Sexual harassment affects a lot of people, and it can make one quit a job. People who have powers in the workplace usually perpetuate it.

To address these issues, there is a need to have a conversation geared towards having a comfortable workplace for all people. There is a need to create an environment that allows people from both genders to work comfortably and achieve career progression. There is a need to have equal treatment in the workplace and reduce the wage gap. Women are supposed to be given equal opportunities just like men in the workplace to work better and career progression; what is essential is what someone offers, not gender.

References

Gap, G. P. The Simple TruTh

Cundiff, J. L., & Vescio, T. K. (2016). Gender stereotypes influence how people explain gender disparities in the workplace. Sex Roles, 75(3), 126-138.

Anything feminine in America and westernized civilizations is deemed weak. Especially if you do not fit the criteria to be feminine, despite women showing their strength throughout history Women experience massive amounts of oppression and sexism in society. The oppression is as far as financial oppression. White women make about 85 cents to the man’s dollar. Women of color experience even more disparities being as they make less to every dollar of a white woman. These sexist and racial disparities are all too common in American society and the lack of representation is nothing new. 

The gender wage gap isn’t a new subject made this century. It is a topic spoken about for decades. Countless women have fought for equality and equity within the workforce. Each one faced their own difficulties and contributed to what we have today. However, there is still work to be done. The gender wage gap is now seen as a taboo topic but there are subjects with the movement itself that aren’t spoken about or highlighted. Within America, there are many racial and ethic groups. Each one may differ culturally, linguistically and with the amount of representation. Equal representation is a persistent problem in America. This problem can be reflected within the Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. AAPI women face the same problem as any other woman of color between the racial and sexist oppression of the wage gap. They experience erasure. AAPI women face the stereotypical Asain minority myth with the assumption that all AAPI women have reached financial and economic success. This stereotype leaves AAPI women who face poverty and other economic or societal struggles out the conversations. AAPI women are also more likely to work in service, sales or office jobs compared to their male counterparts. This as well isn’t properly represented and is an important topic. These workers are typically faced with low wages, little to no benefits, no job security and a lack of compassion from the general public as well as employers. 

Another problem that women face in the gender wage gap is equity. The fact that women do not receive the same pay as their male counterparts isn’t a new topic. Some may say the gender wage problem is only prevalent without education. However, even when women obtain their highschool diploma, bachelors or masters degrees they continue to face wage disparities. Black women with their bachelors degree earn about 65.14% of each dollar earned by their male counterparts. Latina women 62.73%, Native American women 52.7% and white women do not face these issues. These women strive for economic advancement and are met with so many obstacles along the way. 

The gender wage gap isn’t an issue that is solely about women not getting paid equal to men. There are many issues that haven’t been addressed publicly or haven’t been equally represented. The disparities women of color face is a movement itself. The movement will progress as each woman is equally represented and when the workforce is equitable to each woman despite their occupation. 

Dalton, Meg, “Domestic Workers Hit Hard By the COVID-19 Pandemic, (13:49) March 2021. 

According to the article in our reading “90 percent of Spanish-speaking domestic workers they surveyed lost jobs due to COVID 19”. Spanish speaking workers, have a substantial wage gap opposed to other cultures. Latinas get hit the hardest with the wage gap especially domestic workers for example, home health workers, nannies, household cleaning services, Domestic work jobs are, strenuous, exhausting, and these types of jobs are devalued by most people, because it does not require a college degree and most people believe these workers are not educated enough for equal pay. I believe these jobs to be the hardest in labor than most jobs and is not respected enough in the work force.  

According to the amendment on equal rights, we have the right to be treated and respected as equals, no matter the culture, religion, gender, you are. Paul, Alice (ERA Digital History) Feminist 1923, on Equal Rights Amendment Digital History ID 4069 Quote: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the U.S or any other state on account of sex.” we have equal rights as one of the amendments but should be a violation of human rights and anyone who opposes should trialed as a criminal for violating the law. I believe equal rights should be obeyed across the board for, gender equal pay, liberation of women oppression, and equal job opportunities.  

https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=4069#:~:text=Alice%20Paul%2C%20the%20leader%20of,to%20the%20states%20for%20ratification.

What I would like to understand, that we know the inequalities but what are the solutions to change it. Something must be done to honor the women, people of color, gender gap, included in the equal rights amendments, and if this the case -then our amendments are lies told by our government to shut the mouths of those individuals that suffer from this atrocity. When I see the wage gap according to gender and culture, it angers me just knowing that I am a Latina and would never get paid what I am worth. God said our humanness and our worth is bigger than we think.  

The government will go as far as we let them if we do not fight this evil. Our leaders need to be analyzed mentally to decide the common sense that most of them lack. This concept of injustice affects many female Americans, especially female Latin Americans today. The leaders of this country are involved because we have not seen this issue change throughout history. We can never grow as individuals who are part of this wonderful country, and it just goes to show we are not so different from other countries. Women are seen as a lower class of human than males, in which is ignorant just to think about. Furthermore, most people perish from lack of understanding. There is a division in our country, and it is a tremendous crisis we have at hand. Hopefully, we will see change with fast changing world. This is my prayer to God.