Inequality of Wage Gap

Abstract:
Equal pay has been a dilemma brought up since 1869 and decades after it still appears to
be a major economic problem today. There has been several movements and bills trying to get
passed in order to end wage gap between women and men, but nothing has been truly successful.
The government has to accept the bills being proposed in order for women to get equally paid the
same as men and make the wage gap disappear. If women are paid more than men in the
minimum wage pay gap they can then get rid of the 10,00 dollars lost that women should be
getting paid. As of 2018, women in state of Louisiana are getting paid $0.70 cents to every $1.00
men get paid. That is equivalent to women working for free more than two months every year.

Paycheck Fairness Act:

John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act (EPA) 1963. This act was intended to
abolish wage gap, however, the act was not strong enough to actually stop sex discrimination at
work. The Paycheck Fairness Act was introduced in 1997 to eliminate loopholes in the Equal
Pay Act, helping to break harmful patterns of pay discrimination and strengthening workplace
protections for women. This Act is important because it is a better piece of technical
communication that includes more detailed information. “Another important amendment aims to
prohibit employers from paying men more than a woman doing the same job, no matter if they're
based in different offices or locations. This is currently a loophole that can be used by employers
to pay women less. And if a woman sued and won in court, the Paycheck Fairness Act dictates
that she would have to receive compensatory and punitive damages — not just liquidated
damages and back pay, as the Equal Pay Act currently requires.” This illustrates just one piece in
the EPA that can be interpreted in different ways that Paycheck Fairness Act is trying to adjust,
so it’s straight forward.

Studies:

There was a study done in 2009 by the University of Chicago and it demonstrated how
women after graduate school started earning $125,000 compared to men graduates which they
were earning $130,00. There is a $30,00-dollar difference only because the names of two
different resumes are Daniel and Sofia. After nine years, women were earning $250,000, but men
were above $400,000. As the profession of a job increases, so does the wage gap.

The day of International Women Day, a study was conducted in Norway to show kids
between the ages 7-10 how gender pay gap exists. Girls and boys were giving the same
assignment, which was to separate the blue balls from the pink ones. After they finished their
assignment the boys were reward with more candy than the girls. They soon started to ask why,
and the respond was simply “because you’re a girl.” This illustrates in real life how unfair it is to
receive less money than men due to gender.

Statistics:
 Every state has different wage gaps, but the average is $0.80 cents to every $1.00
men earns
  Wage gap is even bigger for non-white females. African Americans earn $0.63,
Latinas $0.54, Native Americans $0.57, and Asian Americans $0.87 to every
$1.00 a man earns
 Wage gap causes females to lose more than $10,000 every year
 The wage gap will not close until 2059
 Women have to work 15 months in order to receive the same amount of money
men earn in 12 months
 The picture below illustrates how much is the profession gap because of gender.
These jobs are just 10 of the hundred jobs where women do not get paid the same.

Solution:
Paycheck Fairness Act has been making changes in order to be passed by the legislative
branch and abolish the gender pay gap. If this Act gets passed it will still take years for the wage
gap to completely disappear. The solution right now would be trying to push the Paycheck
Fairness Act and protest in order for the government to see this has to be changed. The gender
pay gap needs to be in the President’s agenda and not a side project that he can leave until the
last minute. The United States is personified as a country with equality and fairness, but how
come the logistics show otherwise? It was just less than a century ago that women could not
vote. Throughout the years women have gained more power over themselves and continue to do
so. Abolishing the wage gap will demonstrate higher equality in the United States. Men earning
more than women will not change overnight, but women cannot give up.

Opposing Views:
Employers and CEOs recognize that the wage gap between women and men, but justify
through differences in experience, qualities, areas of expertise, and other factors. If we take a
step back and see why men might have more experience and qualities, this still would fall under
unfairness. Men are more likely to get hired than women because women are seen as unreliable
since women can get pregnant and take time off work. This creates men to have more time in the
work labor and be more experienced because women are seen as different.
The government might not put the wage gap into their agenda because they know that it
will have an effect on the economy. Losing more than $10,000 dollars per women is the money
that women who worked for it should receive, but instead industries and the government have
control over it. Giving back $10,000 to every woman would make industries lose money that
they count on.

Conclusion:
Wage gap has been an issue for decades and it needs to come to an end by passing the
Paycheck Fairness Act which eliminates loopholes from the Equal Payment Act. This will cause
equality in women and men regarding their wage. Gender does not have to be a factor to decide
whether someone gets paid more in a profession where women and men do the same job.
Statistics clearly demonstrate the difference in wage due to gender and race and changes need to
be conducted for equality within men and women.