Gender Wage Gap and why it needs to be addressed fast

One of the most important and often controversial topics of our time is that of gender wage gap. The premise here is that there still exists that wage inequality between men and women. According to different facts, statistics and pieces of evidence, women working similar or very comparable jobs to their male counterparts often end up being paid less. This issue of gender wage gap, therefore, has become an ongoing and persistent socio-economic problem which as such puts the women gender at an economic disadvantage compared to their male counterparts. This is in contrast to the concept of equal pay which is an important aspect of “American core values of equality and fairness” (Frye & Bleiweis, 2019). In the U.S, this concept of equal pay for same amount of work “is a cornerstone workplace principle” (Frye & Bleiweis, 2019). Therefore, the key issue that one asks here is why are women treated different and more importantly inequitably when it comes to their compensation?

This, therefore, is an issue that I am very much interested to further look into and research for this course. I strongly feel that women should be deserving of the same pay as their male colleagues for the same amount and nature of work. If that doesn’t happen, then we as a society are economically discriminating against women, and such a practice could be both illegal but also unethical. This concept of gender wage gap is also important to address because it doesn’t go in line with the Fair Pay Act which ensures that everyone should be given the same pay for the same work (Frye & Bleiweis, 2019). Women often are also important co-breadwinners in over half the families in the U.S, but gender pay gap contributes to several social issues from child poverty to slowed economic growth for the female gender (Oostendorp, 2009, Pg. 141-143).

Therefore, my goal in this research paper is to comprehensively examine and look into this phenomenon of gender wage gap, but also trying to uncover a number of reasons or factors that might be causing it. The goal would be to use facts, statistics and reliable information to prove that gender wage gap does exist so it could counter the argument that it doesn’t. For instance, some might think that women might get paid less for similar work as men maybe due to them not having similar academic education, work experience or lack of a consistent work schedule. The goal would be to look at all factors that are causing gender wage gap, and to further raise this issue among my classmates due to the fact that it is one of the most important socio-economic concerns.

References

Bleiweis Robin & Jocelyn Frye (2019). Rhetoric vs. Reality: Making real progress on Equal Pay; American Progress online, retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2019/03/26/467778/rhetoric-vs-reality-making-real-progress-equal-pay/

Oostendorp, R. (2009). Globalization and the Gender Wage Gap. The World Bank Economic Review, 23(1), 141-161. Retrieved from JSTOR online