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Gender Pay Gap: A Literature Review

Faride Scarlett Centeno
University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
This literature review is focused on understanding the wage gap between genders,
and some ways it can be resolved. There are many questions to be answered when it
comes to the pay gap, and one main question is how the pay gap effects women, and if
its a negative or positive thing. Women struggle so much from this on going problem,
and even if a 23-cent difference doesnt sound like a lot, a single mother struggles with
monthly bills and has no extra source of income, which then can lead to poverty in the
long term. This literature review is to inform people on what is happening with the
gender wage gap, and the ways that the gap can be resolved, and if it is even possible to
eliminate the issue in companies.

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Gender Pay Gap: A Literature Review

The United States has had the ongoing issue of gender wage gap. Although the
gap has been reduced by a small amount, women still get paid about eighty cents for
every mans dollar. In these recent years, republicans voted against pay equity, and it is an
unfair choice for the reasons being that majority of the republicans are males. The United
States being a country with many opportunities gives more options for males in the work
force compared to women. Wage gap has been an issue that has been looked over many
times and has yet to be resolved, but some reasons as to why the wage gap exists has to
do with the jobs both men and women choose.
Over the years, wage gap is still an issue but not so much an issue that is being
enforced to being reduced. Women are affected the most and it is very important to fully
understand the issue. This literature review is going to be discussing what we can do to
resolve this issue and if there are any ways to cut it off completely. In order to understand
wage gap these four questions should be greatly considered:
1.How do you think the pay gap effects women?
2.How can the pay gap be resolved? What do people think about the wage gap?
3.Which jobs have greatly reduced or eliminated the pay gap between genders?
4.Why does the gender wage gap exist?

How do you think the pay gap effects women?

Although some of the obvious answers to the question is that women get paid
20% less than men, there are other factors that have to do with how this wage gap effects
women. A survey that was done with two males and two women, helped understand

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what each gender thought about the on going issue. This question was asked to two
males, named Aaron medina and Mathew Duarte, and both answered very two different
things. Having asked the question first to Aaron medina, the individual answered You
get paid sixty percent less than a white man, white women have it bad and Hispanics and
black women haven it worse, blame the republicans. Having asked a male first helped
me as a woman understand the thoughts of how males thought that the gap affected
women. The same question was asked to Mathew Duarte and he clearly stated, I think
they wouldnt be able to support themselves and might lead them (women) to depend on
a male.
Republicans have been one of the main reasons as to why pay equity is still an
issue. Republicans in recent years voted against pay equity, and mainly because majority
are males. Although this seems like a quite bias accusation, there would have been greater
chances of the issue being diminished if majority of republicans wouldve been women.
Women right now get paid about 77 to 80 cents per every dollar a man makes, and
although it doesnt seem like huge difference it actually is just because both men and
women can have the same occupation and still get paid different. I also surveyed two
women and asked them how they think the pay gap effects women, and the first person,
Alexa Marquez told me One of the many effects of the pay gap would be that women
will struggle more when they come to retire, but also if they are single mothers, it will be
a much harder life if they dont have enough to take care of their family, and the second
person, Alejandra Miranda told me I think pay gap effects women in a way that it brings
our self esteem down. We do the same work as men but we get paid less therefore it
makes us think that were not as valuable as men are and it results in not achieving our

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maximum potential because were going to get paid less either way so why try harder.

Women can do the same job and work as hard as men do, and the pay difference is still a
lot less for women, and it is also harder for women to provide for themselves if they are
single with no second source of income.

How can the pay gap be resolved? What do people think about the wage
gap?
The wage gap went up by 1% since 2012 but has yet to be diminished. There are
not that many ways to get rid of the gap completely but there are things that can help.
There are many factors that lead to this pay gap that include the jobs women work at, the
hours they put in during the week, and also higher or lower levels of education. (Glynn,
2014) In the online article 7 actions that could shrink the gender wage gap Glynn
specifies seven different ways that can lead to killing the wage gap completely.
Although republicans voted against equalizing the gap, factors like raising
minimum wage, raising the tipped minimum wage, supporting fair scheduling practices,
investing in affordable child care, supporting pay transparency, pass the paid sick days
legislation, and pass a national paid family and medical leave insurance program can all
be ways to help the wage gap. Some of these ways, can help, but is unrealistic because
most of our government is run by males, and if men dont agree on equalizing the wage
gap, then it will always exist and it will be much harder to end the issue. Minimum wage
in every state is different, and in every job is different, so the best choice for women is to
choose another occupation, or get a better education in order for them to get paid salary
and have a constant wage rather than a varying salary. Over the years the wage gap

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percentage has increased meaning that women are earning a lot more than in the 1960s
but has not been closed completely like shown in figure 1.

Figure 1

(http://visual.ly/earnings-gap-between-women-and-men)
Since pay gap has been an on going issue, the government decided to run a phone
application that tracks how the rates are increasing or decreasing. This application was
not created by Barack Obama but was started because of him and therefore was created in
order to educate both men and women that are not familiar with the issue. In this article
called How to fix the gender wage gap: Going far beyond an app explains that because
Obama wanted to close the pay gap, and in many working environments employers are

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not familiarized with each others salaries, this app helps ensure people of all the salaries
in different types of jobs. (Roosevelt institute, 2012) Other than the app mentioned, they
also talked about other ways that the gender wage gap can be fixed, and another idea

mentioned, is how women take a few days off when they are pregnant, and dont get paid
for those days, so maybe paying women when they are on maternity leave would actually
help a lot with the gap, because while the man is working, the women is off of work a
whole month and then has to leave their child with a babysitter or in a daycare, which is
extremely expensive to pay on a weekly basis. So women getting paid while on maternity
leave is definitely a good idea on reducing with gender wage gap.
Although people are aware of the wage gap, many people are not aware as to why
it happens in the first place, some of the many reasons are that men tend to be more
aggressive when asking for raises, and men tend to also be a part of the leadership role in
their workplace as well, another reason may also be that men are into more lucrative
fields. (Dogen, 2012). Main reasons to sum up the question of how gender wage gap can
be resolved is by increasing minimum wage, offer a better education or career for
women, and also to be able pay women when they are on maternity leave.

Which jobs have greatly reduced or eliminated the pay gap between
genders?
Although many women that work in big corporations still go through the wage
gap, there are also companies who have gotten rid of the wage gap within their company.
One company that has been recognized greatly for their efforts is Intel, some
investigations were made in the company by a young man named Danielle brown, he
compared both men and womens wages with the same job, experience and performance

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and he noted that there was no pay gap between the genders at all. The next step for

Intel is to examine its compensation levels not just by gender, but also by racial groups to
make sure there is a pay fairness by race. (Covert, 2016) As mentioned before the reason
that there may be a pay gap is because men are more assertive in negotiating a salary
compared to women.
Women feel more content with an okay salary compared to men that want to get
the highest amount possible. In order to get rid of wage gap, companies are cutting off
salary negotiations in order to stop salaries from being unfair in the work place. Since a
lot of employers arent familiarized with each others salaries, this makes employers
assume that they all make the same money, which will then just keep wage gaps
constant. (Noguchi, 2015).

Figure 2

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Many big companies are now looking at the equal side in eliminating pay gap,
some factors being that employers feel more trust, and women feel it is more fair that
they will be getting paid the same for the same work men are doing. Companies like
aerospace tech company spaceX will be eliminating their gender wage gap. (Major
companies working to eliminate their pay gap, 2016) Overall it is a very positive thing
that many big companies are noticing the on going problem and are capable of doing
something in order to fix it.

Why does gender wage gap exist?

For many years this seems to be an important question, why does gender wage
gap exist? Isnt there a way every company could avoid this issue? Well unfortunately

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gender wage gap has been one of the hardest financial issues to fix, that even in our
modern society, it has yet to be eliminated completely. Many reasons as to why the

gender wage gap exists, is because men have more of a dominant attitude when it comes
to negotiating salaries, asking for higher wages, or even asking them to move up to a
better position. Women feel that it is unfair for them to work the same amount of time
and hours, and they still get paid less than men. Some reasons that wage gap also exists
has to do with career choices women might make and not so much because of their
gender. Many women pick careers than seem to be more male dominated and although
that shouldnt have an effect on their salary, men will get paid more since the job is more
intended for men, and women are viewed as the weaker ones in these male-dominated
jobs. (Rossheim, n.d). Other reasons as to why the gender wage gap exists is because
women are not as work as much, especially if they become pregnant while on the job or
are pregnant before they get hired, employers are highly likely to hire a male because
they are less likely to skip work days, while women take a month off, or more for doctor
appointments. (Beggs, 2015). Many republicans state that the gender wage gap is mainly
because women choose low paying jobs, but after analyzing what men and women make,
working the same hours and in the same job, women still make 77 cents to every mans
dollar. (Cole, 2015) Wage gap has been an on going issue, but companies, have helped
decrease the issue, and informing people about the gender wage gap Is a positive thing in
order to enforce diminishing the problem.

Conclusion
Gender wage gap has been an on going issue for many years, and although it has
decreased by a lot, there are still many companies who are apart of the issue. It is up to

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women and the government, to help close this wage gap, or help give more benefits to

women in the work place. Some of the many questions asked were why wage gap even
existed, and if there are even any companies who have eliminated or have tried to
eliminate it, also how can we resolve the problem, and mainly, how does this issue really
effect women in the long run. All these questions help with comprehending the real
problem, and if there can be a way to eliminate it.

References
Beggs,J.(2015,January26).Equalpayforequalworkisntsosimple.
Retrievedfrom:https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/01/26/equalpayfor
equalworkisnsimple/QRGkymLQ39h4mcC8RWryWJ/story.html
Cole,N.L.(2015,November19).Yes,theGenderPayGapisReal.
Retrievedfromhttp://sociology.about.com/od/AskaSociologist/fl/Yesthe
GenderPayGapisReal.htm
Covert,B.(2016,February8).HowIntelEliminatedIt'sOwnGenderPayGap.
Retrievedfrom:http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/02/08/3746685/intel
diversitywagegap/
Dogen. S. (2012). The Gender Wage Gap And A Solution To Income Inequality.
Retrieved from http://www.financialsamurai.com/gender-wage-gap/
Glynn,S.J.,Fisher,M.,&Baxter,F.(2014,September14).7ActionsthatCouldShrink
TheGenderWageGap.Retrievedfrom:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2014/09/18/97421/7

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actionsthatcouldshrinkthegenderwagegap/

Institute,R.(2012,February2).HowtoFixtheGenderWageGap:GoingFarBeyondan
App.Retrievedfrom:http://rooseveltinstitute.org/howfixgenderwagegap
goingfarbeyondapp/

Noguchi,Y.(2015,April23).SomeCompaniesFightPayGapByEliminatingSalary
Negotiations.Retrievedfrom:http://www.npr.org/2015/04/23/401468571/some
companiesfightpaygapbyeliminatingsalarynegotiations
Rossheim,J.(n.d).GenderWageGap:Whyitexists,andhowWomencanHelpChange
It.Retrievedfrom:http://excelle.monster.com/benefits/articles/19genderwage
gapwhyitexistsandhowwomencanhelpchangeit
Majorcompaniesworkingtoeliminatetheirgenderpaygaps.(2016,March14).
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