The Great Divide

Professor Pavla Jonssonová

May, 2008Tyrone Schiff

The Great DivideThe concept of gender deals with a variety of different fields. On a psychologicallevel, the two genders think different to one another. On a physical level, the two genderslook and react differently to one another. The same holds true with the sort of economicsand wages or salaries that are received by each gender. There is no doubt that there is infact a difference between the two genders in this regard as well. This particular differenceis a highly controversial topic that plagues individuals who fight for equality amongst thegenders. This paper will attempt to outline some of the most significant current situationsthat showcase the gap amongst men and women when it comes to earning money. It willexplore what has happened, what is currently happening, and what ought to happen inorder to reach an equally beneficial result. Furthermore, an analysis of the impact of thevariance in wages amongst men and women will provide some significant perspective onthe issue. Finally, I will take a look at some of the anomalies of this prevailing pattern of men being paid more than women, and discuss why this may be the case. Ultimately, this paper will try and delve into the topics that relate to gender salary distortion.It is far easier said than done to be able to pay both genders equally it appears.Germany and France were some of the first countries in Europe to formally legislate thatmen and women receive equal pay. It took a long time for the rest of Europe to takenotice, however. Perhaps it was due to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 that passed in theUnited States that started the domino effect that cascaded through Europe demandingequal pay for women and men. The United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Norway,Greece, and Austria all passed legislation during the 1970s (Nergaard). An Equal Pay Actis a legislative document that is usually put together by people working in Parliament that2

outlines, quite specifically, how men and women ought to be paid for their work (Nergaard). Equal Pay Acts typically prohibit discriminatory behavior to one gender or another, for example the following would be considered illegal, “paying different wagesto employees of different sexes, if their respective jobs require equal ‘skill, effort andresponsibility’ and are performed under the same conditions” (Lawyers.com). That seemslike a very reasonable regulation to have in place. People ought to be compensatedequally for their efforts regardless of gender. However, employers are also given a lot of influence in paying wages protected by the Equal Pay Act. For instance, an employer cancite that there is a disparity in wages due to, “A seniority salary system […] A system that bases salary on quantity or quality of production, any factor other than sex”(Lawyers.com). So, while the Equal Pay Act was a step in the right direction, there is alsoa tremendous amount of pitfalls and loopholes to it that have been exploited.To truly understand how this difference in wages for men and women play out,consider the example of the current strike that is going on amongst female Danish nurses.For just over a month now, the nurses in Denmark have been on strike requesting morecompetitive wages. Though the nursing profession is composed of both males andfemales, the strike is by those nurses working in the public sector rather than the privatesector. The ratio of females to males in the public sector is staggeringly more than thosein the private sector where the ratio is about even (Inquirer.net). Aside from nurses,midwives, physiotherapists, nursing aides, laboratory technicians, retirement homeworkers, and daycare assistants have all joined together in the struggle towards equal payfor men and women. At this point there is some 100,000 workers at strike which hascaused over 40,000 cancelled operations and has brought Denmark’s healthcare system to3