In North America, nearly half of the workforce consists of females. Yet, females are still receiving lower pay than males even though they are equally trained, experienced and educated as their male coworkers, causing a gender wage gap (Blau and Kahn, 2016). Corbett and Hill (2012) discovered that in United States, women, who graduated in 2008 from the same college as men and who had a full-time employment during 2009, received “82 cents for every dollar” their male coworkers received. It is predicted by Institute for Woman’s Policy Research (IWRP) that it will take females around 45 years to reach wage equality with their male colleagues (Hegewisch and DuMonthier, 2010).
This pay inequality matters because discriminating against women based …show more content…
These are referred to as explained factors, also known as equal pay for equal work, because the pay that each individual earns is based on choices they make, the skill set they have to offer and their contribution in the workforce. Several females decide to obtain a degree in education and social sciences, while several males decide to obtain a degree in engineering and computer sciences (Kunze, 2007). This further leads to women and men selecting employment based on their perceived gender roles. For instance, males mainly choose jobs in the field of business and engineering, which generally offer high pay, whereas, females mainly choose jobs in the field of education, which generally offer low pay (Kunze, 2007). The economic sector plays a role as well in widening the gender wage disparity. Men dominate the two major economic sectors worldwide, for-profit organizations and government, allowing them to receive higher pay than women. However, even when these components are controlled, it was found that women made around 5% to 7% less than men. The components are controlled by selecting a sample of individuals who have received the same education, work in the same sector and the same job (Daczo, 2012). This study implies that while occupational, educational and economic facets explained majority of the cause of gender pay gap, there is still about 12% of unexplained causes to be …show more content…
Other scholars have suggested that social norms, such as gender biases and family obligations, and employment practices, such as negotiation, promotion and bias while picking employers, are identified as other factors that contribute to the pay gap (Blau and Kahn, 2016). Furthermore, Hayes (2013) states that the wage gap is present in most occupations, in government, non-profit and private divisions, and across all nations. “In the World Economic Forum (2015), the United States and Canada scored 0.740 on the Global Gender Gap Index with 1 being the highest score, equality, and 0 being the lowest score, inequality” (Dhanju, 2016). North America will be a good location to conduct the research since half of the labour force consists of women and there are unexplained factors that cause the pay disparity (World Economic Forum 2015). Specifically, the heath care sector is one of many occupations where pay disparity exists. The pay gap is wider in jobs that require most advanced skill set, such as law and medicine. 1 out of 3 surgeons and physicians are women, yet women only earn 69% of what their male coworkers earn (Herman, 2015). Thus, in this capstone paper, I am going to research how various social norms and employment practices “contribute to the gender wage gap that is prevalent in North America,
This pay inequality matters because discriminating against women based …show more content…
These are referred to as explained factors, also known as equal pay for equal work, because the pay that each individual earns is based on choices they make, the skill set they have to offer and their contribution in the workforce. Several females decide to obtain a degree in education and social sciences, while several males decide to obtain a degree in engineering and computer sciences (Kunze, 2007). This further leads to women and men selecting employment based on their perceived gender roles. For instance, males mainly choose jobs in the field of business and engineering, which generally offer high pay, whereas, females mainly choose jobs in the field of education, which generally offer low pay (Kunze, 2007). The economic sector plays a role as well in widening the gender wage disparity. Men dominate the two major economic sectors worldwide, for-profit organizations and government, allowing them to receive higher pay than women. However, even when these components are controlled, it was found that women made around 5% to 7% less than men. The components are controlled by selecting a sample of individuals who have received the same education, work in the same sector and the same job (Daczo, 2012). This study implies that while occupational, educational and economic facets explained majority of the cause of gender pay gap, there is still about 12% of unexplained causes to be …show more content…
Other scholars have suggested that social norms, such as gender biases and family obligations, and employment practices, such as negotiation, promotion and bias while picking employers, are identified as other factors that contribute to the pay gap (Blau and Kahn, 2016). Furthermore, Hayes (2013) states that the wage gap is present in most occupations, in government, non-profit and private divisions, and across all nations. “In the World Economic Forum (2015), the United States and Canada scored 0.740 on the Global Gender Gap Index with 1 being the highest score, equality, and 0 being the lowest score, inequality” (Dhanju, 2016). North America will be a good location to conduct the research since half of the labour force consists of women and there are unexplained factors that cause the pay disparity (World Economic Forum 2015). Specifically, the heath care sector is one of many occupations where pay disparity exists. The pay gap is wider in jobs that require most advanced skill set, such as law and medicine. 1 out of 3 surgeons and physicians are women, yet women only earn 69% of what their male coworkers earn (Herman, 2015). Thus, in this capstone paper, I am going to research how various social norms and employment practices “contribute to the gender wage gap that is prevalent in North America,