A prominent controversy relevant in modern society is the perceived wage gap between men and women. It is widely believed and accepted that women are paid less than men when the annual salaries of men and women are compared. Many people share the opinion that women are paid less than men because the system is innately sexist; however, others believe that the wage gap can be justified to reasons other than sexism. Wages have existed as long as people have been employed by other people. Pay being monetary is a development created in relatively recent history; some workers in the Middle Ages were simply paid with an amount of food and a few heads of livestock (Williams 19). A symbiotic relationship exists between employer and employee: the employer
