Gender Wage Gap

It's been a century of different cultural and social views on women. Now, women have voting rights , education, and freedom. The only thing a woman is most likely not able to achieve is; equality. Many people in today's society turn a blind eye towards this issue. The wage gap between women and men is astonishing and according to the Institution for Women's Policy Research "Women receive more college and graduate degrees than men Yet, an average, women continue to earn considerably less than men." Unequal treatment between both genders raises more problems. The discrimination that happens in the workplace brings attention to the ethical concern of full "equality" and "freedom". So what prompts a gender wage gap, and why should anyone care?

The problem is, when a gender wage gap exists, it affects not only woman but impacts the economy, their children, sexual harassment, and their self value. People may not understand the great impact this has on the economy, but women are the ones who spend money on themselves and their children so they are putting money into the economy. When a woman has to worry about other things like healthcare and personal things , the money isn't getting put out into the economy as if they were getting paid the same amount as a man. This issue has not yet been fully solved because this problem is complex and somewhat delicate. There is no quick fix for the gender wage gap.

An economy struggling can lead to lower wages of all people. So why should we balance out the wages between genders? Because, women have the power to possible shape and form an economy with spendings of themselves and their families. In doing this money is put back into the economy and gets money circling. As Pennon states "The results suggest that gender inequality in education directly affects economic growth by lowering the average level of human capital. In addition, growth is indirectly affected through the impact of gender inequality on investment and population growth "(6) this expresses the importance of the issue associated with the economy. Gender wage gaps can possibly lead also to unemployment levels increasing due to private businesses losing profit because of the suffering economy. Poverty levels can incline and this will affect any nation. Azmat explains this when she says " the female unemployment rate is much higher than the male. Explaining these cross???country differences is the subject of this article. We show that, in countries where there is a large gender gap in unemployment rates, there is a gender gap in both flows from employment into unemployment and from unemployment into employment" (3).

With men being employed and hired for higher positions/ executives this creates a more harmful work environment due to the fact that statistics shows when men are mostly held at a higher position or rank, sexual harassment is more likely to occur. A study recently performed by national partnership for women & families "women who say they've experienced sexual harassment at work are 6.5 times more likely to change jobs than women who have not – often to a job of lower quality or with lower pay" this is one of the ways a gender wage gap exists. Sexual harassment can cause many women to go into lower paying jobs and are less likely to ask for raises and bonuses. "The negative effect of sexual harassment can take multiple forms, from a woman leaving her job to escape harassment or getting stonewalled from promotions or raises after denying her boss's advances, among other situations" (Azmat et al. 5). Men are more likely to be hired at top level jobs which mean better pay and salaries. The states of Gender Pay Gap in 2018 published a study that showed "Over the course of their career, men move into higher level roles at significantly higher rates than women. By mid-career, men are 70 percent more likely to be in executive roles than women. By late career, men are 142 percent more likely to be in VP or C-suite roles."

The current society will never be balanced to men and women if gender differences still exist. The potential of a nation will depend on how equal and accessible equal rights are. For many decades men have always had the power and were seen as greater than a woman. Sallie Krawcheck became one of the biggest most important woman on Wall Street, she says "more men in power need to wake up to the realities of the wage gap." This concern is another issue that oppresses women and limits them from the same chances as a man.

There will never be a perfect world or even a completely balanced one. Getting rid of of the gender wage gap is not an easy fix nor can it be done in a short amount of time. Closing the gap can take years or even centuries to fully fix. Supporting pay transparency can decline the gender wage gap, by encouraging businesses to adopt this idea of same work=same pay. A newly idea integrated in some businesses that can possibly lower the wage gap is adding paternity leave , not just maternity leave. This will even the balance of gender treatment. Statistics show an employer will most likely higher a man because they don't need to worry about them taking a leave of absence due to a child. Passing paid sick days will help lessen the gender wage gap due to the fact that a mother will be more likely to stay home and care for her sick children at home, causing her to miss work.

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