In 2013 the average male’s earnings were $50,033 while females earned $39,157 (http://www.pay-equity.org/). This statistic highlights one of the worst social issues we face today. Recently, when Sony Pictures was hacked, it was revealed that of the seventeen people earning over one million dollars, only one of them was a female. Even though a male and a female might have the same job, the female counterpart earns much less. In the case of the co-presidents of the company, that “much less” is nearly one million dollars. It is unfair that we live in a society where two people can perform the same job with the same ability, but one of those two people gets paid more to do it because of factors uncontrolled by either person. Our society needs
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Science backs up the idea that men and women have nearly identical intellectual capabilities. Many people view the fact that most famous scientists and mathematicians are male as proof that females are less intelligent. However, many other people think that it is not intelligence, but social regulations that are holding back females. In Niederle’s and Vesterlund’s article “Explaining the Gender Gap in Math Test Scores: The Role of Competition”, the authors try to find the correlation between the differences in male and female math test scores (Niederle, Vesterlund, 129.) They chose to research math test scores instead of another subject because math scores are closely linked to pay. On the surface, it appears that there actually is no gap in scores because the mean on tests like the SAT and the AP is …show more content…
In a graph displaying the results given by the New York Times writer Hannah Fairfield, it is clear that the opposite is true in the United States (Fairfield 1). Andreas Schleicher, one of the heads of OECD, says, “[boys are more likely to] see science as something that affects their life”. The obvious difference between the United States and China that could account for this discrepancy is culture. In the U.S. and other western countries, women are discouraged and even bullied when they show talent in math and science. As a student in a public school system, I can personally lend credence to this idea. I remember a girl in fourth grade that loved talking about math and science. A lot of my classmates, including myself, were jealous and considered her a “smart-aleck.” Most of us avoided speaking to her until she felt pressured to and ended up changing schools In contrast, intelligent males were at least tolerated. The Anti-Bullying Alliance supports this claim with a statistic showing that nearly twice as many females are discouraged from math and science careers than males (anti-bullyingalliance.com.) That children of either sex are being bullied just for showing intelligence is something that is alarming. The root cause isn’t that children are prejudiced, but rather adults biasing them to
Science backs up the idea that men and women have nearly identical intellectual capabilities. Many people view the fact that most famous scientists and mathematicians are male as proof that females are less intelligent. However, many other people think that it is not intelligence, but social regulations that are holding back females. In Niederle’s and Vesterlund’s article “Explaining the Gender Gap in Math Test Scores: The Role of Competition”, the authors try to find the correlation between the differences in male and female math test scores (Niederle, Vesterlund, 129.) They chose to research math test scores instead of another subject because math scores are closely linked to pay. On the surface, it appears that there actually is no gap in scores because the mean on tests like the SAT and the AP is …show more content…
In a graph displaying the results given by the New York Times writer Hannah Fairfield, it is clear that the opposite is true in the United States (Fairfield 1). Andreas Schleicher, one of the heads of OECD, says, “[boys are more likely to] see science as something that affects their life”. The obvious difference between the United States and China that could account for this discrepancy is culture. In the U.S. and other western countries, women are discouraged and even bullied when they show talent in math and science. As a student in a public school system, I can personally lend credence to this idea. I remember a girl in fourth grade that loved talking about math and science. A lot of my classmates, including myself, were jealous and considered her a “smart-aleck.” Most of us avoided speaking to her until she felt pressured to and ended up changing schools In contrast, intelligent males were at least tolerated. The Anti-Bullying Alliance supports this claim with a statistic showing that nearly twice as many females are discouraged from math and science careers than males (anti-bullyingalliance.com.) That children of either sex are being bullied just for showing intelligence is something that is alarming. The root cause isn’t that children are prejudiced, but rather adults biasing them to