The Narrowing, but Persistent, Gender Gap in Pay

Equal pay for equal work. It actually reflects something which is reasonable; it is very hard to extremely believe on that in 2017, we are always talking about the issue of gender pay gap in our society. In the actual sense, there is no any single state across the globe where women do earn the same income as men(Belleet al, pg.111). One of the cognitive reasons that can be used to explain this is that females tend to study less lucrative courses that lead them to lower paying jobs in the career ladder. In reality, the choice of the stubborn gap is totally an idea of true choice. As this tries to give women a lot of flexibility then leads to lower payment in the society. It is not due to the fact that women take less lucrative courses but it has been evident that if in an organization is made by females and are paid less than no issue to raise but if for the case of men then it would raise alarm in the society. Therefore, if for the ladies who have totally devoted themselves to better-paying courses they end up being paid less. This issue has totally turned to be an issue of concern in the society due to changes in the structure of government, technological progress and also issues that are related to globalization. This conceptual paper explores the issue of gender gap pay in the US. Gender inequality exists in our society though it is not as simple as it is portrayed. The issue of gender takes different perspectives in our society for instance gender, gender roles and eventually gender. Each of the aspect does play a critical role when speaking on issues to do with men and women in the society (Belleet al, pg.112). Sex perspective is actually the biological differences that exist between male and females thus gender is only socially learned behaviors which are fully attached to sexes that make "Gender Roles." Gender roles encompass the behaviors as well as attitudes which are expected of people in a particular societal culture. The gender roles are the key drivers of gender inequality in our society. In the actual sense, the gender roles are not determined at the time of birth but they are learned and eventually taught across one's life through the environment he or she associates with and the culture. The gender roles are taught in the environments that an individual is raised and commonly the family. This is due to the fact that a family is responsible for passing values and beliefs that govern the issue of gender in the society(Bolzendahlet al, pg.767). Nevertheless, in the recent times, women have fully turned to be self –sufficient and in the same case independent from the male counterparts from the historical family issues. In the actual sense, the issue of gender inequality has turned to be less common in our modern society. Women at all the time had been fully subjected to different kinds of extreme historical discrimination that greatly influenced the community to decide on the type of occupations that women could occupy. Women have devoted themselves for a good number of years to bridge the gap of discrimination but in actual sense, it seems to persist in the society.  Thus it is essential to try to address the issue in other ways in order to bridge the gap by trying to offer job opportunities on grounds of academic qualification but not on the basis of the societal beliefs(Stieret al, pg.1194). Women in the society have actually been treated as individuals who do not deserve any kind of respect and dignity at large from the institutions as well as the laws that are found in the society. Women in the society are treated as producers, agents of prosperity in the society and eventually sex outlets(Rileyet al, pg.410). Women have fought tirelessly since the 1950s in order to ensure that their role is recognized and the society does not discriminate them at any cost. From the time the issue of civilization took roots in the society, women have totally been playing a secondary role in the community and perceived to be less when compared to men.  In the years of 1970s and 1960s, women from the West fought tirelessly. In 1913, the then president of United States of America-Roosevelt emphasized that the laws that did exist in the society should be the one that did support equality in the society(Rileyet al, pg.415). In other words, the Constitution had to advocate for equality between men and women in the society in order to realize economic, social and political development. Despite that, it has been evident that there is a positive correlation between gender discrimination and the rate of poverty in the society and thus to address this issue of poverty we have first to solve the issue of gender inequality in our states. Regardless of the fact that the number of women in higher-paying jobs has significantly increased, women still persist to be overrepresented in occupations that do pay less and this in the actual sense leads to the difference in the pay (Brah, Avtar, and Ann Phoenix, pg.85). According to traditions, the higher positions were actually occupied by men and thus the ladies were totally neglected. This kind of pay gap may as a result of gender discrimination in the society. According to a case study made in the year 2013, it was disclosed that women were more discriminated in job setting. The approximation was 18 percent to 10 percent so it was significant that women were discriminated on grounds of gender thus leading to gender inequality. Despite that, 77 percent and 63 percent of women and men respectively claimed that it was necessary for a state to advocate for changes in the society to bring equality in the work setting. According to a research that was conducted recently, it was revealed that females do contribute approximately 77 cents of every earned dollar and thus it is not good to be discriminate.  Despite that, it was also revealed that the probability of women completing the higher education was high when compared to the males and it was totally irrational to continue to discriminate women in the society on some grounds. Due to the condition that women can perform better in the education system, it is good for them to be paid relevant to their male counterparts(Bolzendahl et al, pg.780).  Therefore, in terms of employment and enumeration, it is good to offer equality of every opportunity in order to create a sense of being in the society. Besides that, the gap of pay should be bridged in order for the ladies to feel being part of the society as a whole. Gender equality in the United States is being passed by the time but in the actual sense, it has built deep roots in the society that in order to eliminate it is a huge task. It has been witnessed that women are penalized with lower payment as well as fewer promotions after return to the job after they take their time to move and spend with their children as they do work in less paying jobs. Despite in some organization, women are penalized for working part time upon which work pay fall less than an hour of the whole working time. Despite that, the number of women that are working time is compared to their counter parts males. Females do make an approximately 41 percent while men 12 percent. The government of United States is taking all possible ways to close the gender pay gap on the issue of gender equality. In the actual sense, it has risen in the ladder of the countries that are fighting the issue of gender inequality in payment(Brah, Avtar, and Ann Phoenix, pg.76). They have introduced flexible parentage leave in order to cater for the women and not to discriminate them. Despite that, it has increased the total amount of free childcare as an offer for the parents who are working in order to put the employers under pressure to cater for that. Despite that, there is a move to increase the total number of women on boards in order to defend the others(Bolzendahlet al, pg.759).  In the actual sense, it is the high time for the government to address the issue of gender inequality and try to get a good number of women into the higher- paying cut institutions in the region. Therefore, the gender pay gap should be addressed by all the means in order to have a society that income is equally distributed.

                Conclusion

In the current century we are anyone who tries to claim that women do earn less in the society are not true and no evidence that can support the statement. Everyone can witness that the world is changing day by day and thus the jobs that are available in current world will not be available in 10 years to come (Stieret al, pg.1189). The reason behind women "taking what is yours" is due to the fact that women are actual product of any given society that does instill in the power of men to be assertive while women are termed to be passive and eventually meek.

Cite this page