The Gender Wage Gap
In 1963 the Federal government passed the Equal Pay Act to prohibit employers from discriminating based on the way employees of opposite sexes are compensated. The Act required employers to compensate employees of equal skill, effort, and responsibility, equally. While the gender wage gap has closed significantly since then, women are still making less than men at the same jobs. A portion of the pay gap for working young college graduates can be attributed to their individual choices. Even after accounting for the differences in choices, there is still a portion of the gap that remains unexplained. This portion could be the result of gender discrimination or lack of negotiation by women. Because the gender wage gap is such a complex problem, it will take contributing solutions from women, men, employers, and the government to eliminate it.
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2012, women’s median annual earnings …show more content…
Men are more likely to go into higher-paying fields, such as, engineering and computer sciences. Women are more likely to go into lower paying fields, such as, education and social sciences. However, when men and women have similar education and the same job the gender gap still remains in many occupational categories. Even though women often have higher grades than males (Corbett & Hill, 2012). In occupations such as teaching, sales, business/management, and other white color occupations men earn significantly more than women who are doing the same job. In business and management occupations, women earn 86 percent of what men earned. Women earned only 77 percent what men did in sales occupations. The gap is much smaller for occupations such as health care, social services, and math/engineering, but in no occupation category is the gap reversed and women are earning significantly more than men (Corbett & Hill,
In 1963 the Federal government passed the Equal Pay Act to prohibit employers from discriminating based on the way employees of opposite sexes are compensated. The Act required employers to compensate employees of equal skill, effort, and responsibility, equally. While the gender wage gap has closed significantly since then, women are still making less than men at the same jobs. A portion of the pay gap for working young college graduates can be attributed to their individual choices. Even after accounting for the differences in choices, there is still a portion of the gap that remains unexplained. This portion could be the result of gender discrimination or lack of negotiation by women. Because the gender wage gap is such a complex problem, it will take contributing solutions from women, men, employers, and the government to eliminate it.
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2012, women’s median annual earnings …show more content…
Men are more likely to go into higher-paying fields, such as, engineering and computer sciences. Women are more likely to go into lower paying fields, such as, education and social sciences. However, when men and women have similar education and the same job the gender gap still remains in many occupational categories. Even though women often have higher grades than males (Corbett & Hill, 2012). In occupations such as teaching, sales, business/management, and other white color occupations men earn significantly more than women who are doing the same job. In business and management occupations, women earn 86 percent of what men earned. Women earned only 77 percent what men did in sales occupations. The gap is much smaller for occupations such as health care, social services, and math/engineering, but in no occupation category is the gap reversed and women are earning significantly more than men (Corbett & Hill,