Disparity Among Women

When the words “pay gap” are spoken, some may think of the pay gap between men and women. What about looking at it more specifically in terms of race among women? In 2016, women were paid 80 cents for every dollar men earned. That comes up to a gender wage gap of $10,470 in one year! For women who work full-time, year-round jobs in the United States, White women earned 79 cents for every dollar white men earned, and Asian women earned 86 cents for every dollar. Black women earned 63 cents for every dollar and Hispanic/Latina women earned 54 cents for every dollar. Comparing the earnings between 2015 and 2016, we earn an even greater sense of disparity among race. White women’s pay increased by 4.9%, Asian women’s pay by 2.8%, and Hispanic women’s pay by 0.1%. Meanwhile, Black women’s pay decreased by 1.3%.

What do all these numbers mean? There is an unequal representation of races within the pay gap. All other racial groups’ wages compared to White men were increased, yet only Black women’s wages decreased. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal for employers to …show more content…
This would allow fathers to take responsibility of the newborn and allow women to focus on their occupations and support their families. The government should strongly enforce equal pay and policies regarding equal pay. Increasing women’s earnings would reduce the poverty rate for all working women in half from 8.0% to 3.8%. For single women, the poverty rate would drop from 10.8% to 4.4%. If equal pay were implemented, the United States economy would have an additional income of $512.6 billion, increasing the gross domestic product of 2016 to 2.8%. Ultimately, confronting and understanding the many factors that contribute to the inequality may help close the gender and racial pay gap. People should not be receiving less pay than White men because of characteristics they were born