Sydney Edwards

4/8/2017
Humanities 1100
Justice Theme Writing Assignment

Women throughout history have had to fight for the right to be seen
as equals to men. Whether it is the right to vote, be able to attain certain
careers, and the right to have equal pay. Although women have over
come many obstacles in history one issue that is very prevalent today is
the pay gap between men and women in the workforce. Im talking about
just someone who works at Wendys gets paid a little more than his
female co-worker. Im talking about a women who has received the same
higher education and possess the same skills and qualifications as her
male co-worker but isnt compensated the same. Or they might make the
same as their male counter part but as years go on they dont get raises
as fairly or have to work twice as hard to get recognized just because
they are female.

This is an injustice because women are being deprived the right to

be compensated fairly for the exact same job as a man. For example
elementary school teaching is highly dominated by women but female
teachers only make ninety-five percent or less of what male teachers
make (Lips 94). It cannot be just because most female teachers dont
receive as much education or they arent as qualified as male teachers. To
me this is ridiculous because everyone should have the same
opportunities to make a fair salary or wage as their co-workers no matter
what there gender is. I dont think that a lot of women know that they are
getting compensated unfairly too because its not a common thing to
know how much co-workers make. I think if more women knew that they
were not being compensated as much as their male co-workers there
would be more of a push to create fair pay among employers. Im not
saying that every man and women in the same job positions should be
getting paid the exact same amount as each other because there are
different factors that come into play when deciding a persons pay but I
do believe that sometimes gender comes into play. Although a company
would never admit to paying females less because she is a female
because that would cause a lot of legal issues and create bad publicity.
Statistics and censuses over the past decade have shown that a gender
pay gap does exist.

Over the past decade the women have been encouraged to pursue
careers in heavily male dominated work forces to help close the wage gap
in those industries. Women who have pursued STEM (Science, technology,
Engineering, and Mechanics) careers earned after one year of graduating
with a PHD in science or engineering earn thirty-one percent less then
men (Grabmeier). But when other college careers are taken into factor,
women are paid eleven percent less than males (Grabmeier). According to
an article in USA Todays Economic Observer By Jeff Grabmeier it is
because most females pursue lower paying job fields than men and that
the pay gap disappears when you take into account if the females are
married and have children. I do not agree with that statement. Women
should not be getting paid less just because they have children
or are married. I think that should help the cause of getting able to be
paid fairly. Men could also be married and have children. How does that
make it any different from women in the same situation? It doesnt.
Companies shouldnt be taking those factors outside of the work place
into deciding someones pay.

Another issue that contributes to the gender pay gap is gender

roles. I think that companies sometimes assume that a female worker
might need to be compensated as much because her income is secondary
and that she may rely more on her husband income so her pay isnt as
important. Also because women tend to be the more nurturing parent and
take care of the children so they might not be as dedicated to there job as
much as men because they have children to focus on and so the company
feels that they dont need to make as much.

A lot of comparison reports are not as reliable as well companies

just show the ordinary wages and salaries that each gender makes.
Ordinary wages exclude overtime pay, bonuses, and other perks and
awards. This measure makes the wage gap look smaller because men are
more likely than women to have access to these extras(Lips 88). It is
insane that they wouldnt want to include this information in those
comparison reports but Im pretty sure it obvious why they wouldnt.
Because they are afraid that the comparisons shown would bring to light
that there is a much bigger wage gap than what the ordinary wage
comparison report would show. The use of weekly or hourly, rather than
annual, earnings makes the gap look smaller because men may work
more weeks or more hours than women (Drolet, 2001) (Lips 88).
Although this probably doesnt happen in all companies but Im sure it
does exist. In my personal experience I havent had to deal with not being
allowed to work over time because I am a women I feel that most
companies welcome overtime if it is needed or available. It might be that
more men are willing or able to work more over time. I personally dont
like to work over time unless I need to or have to. So they might not
include that in the comparison because the data is not an accurate
representation of the information. That is why I dont fully agree with what
that part of Hilary Lips paper. But it doesnt mean that it doesnt exist.
This contributes to the gender gap issue not getting better because it
shows that even when reporting about the gap there is an issue with how
it is done and that if we are unable to get good reliable information then
how can we work to solve the issue. Its like taking one step forward and
two steps back.

A lot of recent reports make people feel that the wage gap is closing
and it is but very slowly. Actually painfully slowly at about one-fifth a
percent a year (Lips 88). But there is no accurate trend on how much the
gap is closing. A labor economist for the Employment Policy Institute was
widely quoted as estimating that the pay gap would close within 30 years
(Pay Gap, 2002)(Lips 96) Even though this was reported back in 2002 I
feel that the pay gap is nowhere near being fixed by the year 2032.
According

to that we are already half way through to fixing the problem but with
only about one fifth percent of the gap being filled each year there is no
way that the issue would be resolved by the year 2032. But in past
decades it has shown that the gap has either go up or down The wage
gap actually became larger during the 1960s than it had been in the
1950s, that it closed slightly between 1981 and 1996, widened somewhat
again between 1996 and 1999, then narrowed slightly in 2000 (Lips, 97).

Lastly I want to give reasons why the gender pay gap exists.
Throughout history men have always been seen as the breadwinner and
provider for his family while women were mainly the ones who would take
care of the family. Men were also the ones who made the most money
because not a lot of women would have careers or needed to work. But in
the last century that aspect has change and more women are joining the
workforce and receiving education to pursue careers of their interests.
Women may not need as much money because they have a husband to
rely on to make most of the money. That could be why men are being
compensated more than women. Companies may see men as having
more money related responsibilities and they have families that rely more
on there salaries and wages than women. They see mens income as
more of primary income and womens income as secondary.

Another reason companies are willing to pay men more because

they might take there job more seriously and be more focused on their
work since his wife might be taking care of issues with the children and
home. Companies might also consider that men might be able to work
more hours and be flexible with there hours since they might no have as
many responsibilities at home.

Sources:

Grabmeier, Jeff STEM(ing) the Pay Gap Economic Observer in USA

Today, September Edition 2016: pg. 47
Lips, Hilary M. The Gender Pay Gap: Concrete Indicator of Womens
Progress Toward Equality Analyses of Social Issues and Public
Policy, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2003: pg. 87-109