Why do we continue to see gender inequality in pay? Below is a list of several articles focused on the topic of the gender wage gap. Choose 2 articles of interest to you to compare and contrast. Consider the following questions.
- What explanations are offered in the articles for the gender wage gap?
- Do the articles suggest an improvement in the gap? Why/Why Not?
- What are your reactions to the articles... do you agree or disagree? What points stood out to you most?
- What do you think women should do to try to improve the wage gap?
Synthesize your responses in a brief 1-2 paragraph post due by 8am Tuesday 4/16. Be sure to include the name and hyperlink to the articles you are responding to in your post. Feel free to include reactions to the CNBC interview as well (linked below).
- Gender Pay Gap Persists (USA Today)
- Gender Pay Gap by Industry (NYTimes)
- Don't Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap (Bloomberg)
- The Vicious Cycle of the Gender Pay Gap (Time Magazine)
- Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less (NY Times)
- Closing the Gender Wage Gap for Economic Stimulus (Huffington Post)
- Gender Wage Gap May be Smaller than You Think (Wall Street Journal)
In the USA Today article the continuation of the gender pay gap is discussed. Although women in today’s world often go on to get prestige educations they are still lagging behind men in the workforce world. The article states that women earn less because, “including their college majors, occupation and the number of hours they work. Today, women still tend to enter lower-paid fields such as education and social sciences, while men typically major in engineering and computer science.” The New York Times article touches upon how even in the medical field women are paid less than men. Both the USA Today and the New York Times article suggest little improvement in the gap. The New York Times goes into depth about a psychological study showing that with a man and women with identical resumes the man is more likely to be picked among female and male employers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the articles that the wage gap between hardworking men and women is unlawful. One point that stood out to me the most was the research in the New York Times article researching women who take more vacations and work less hours getting less pay than men who work more and take less vacations. Obviously any person who works more than another deserves more pay, with this topic I feel what is important is relating those of both sexes who work equally hard. To try and improve the wage gap I believe women should take a stand against being treated unfair. America is a country of freedom where all are supposed to be treated equal, and that includes equal pay.
In today’s society, women continue to follow in men’s footsteps when it comes to the work force. In the New York Times Article, Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less, the women are examined as to how they are treated in the work force, specifically in the medical field. In this article, statistics have shown that the men take in a higher salary than women. In the USA Today article, the gender pay gap is discussed, and how the men and women are still separated in the working field. The USA Today article explains the difference in salary of the males and females. In both articles, they discuss the issue with the pay gap, not the improvement, but the fact that in today’s so called ‘free and equal’ society, there continues to be a separation with men and women. The reason why the articles discuss this concern is because with all of the improvements in society, we continue to separate men and women, and we continue to judge men and women, stereotyping with certain characteristics. In the work force, our generation commonly stereotypes men and women with certain jobs, such as men taking on the jobs as doctors, lawyers and architectural designers and builder, while the women are labeled as the nurse, secretary or the assistant. It is a major issue when women are capable of holding a job similar to a male and they are paid less and looked at in a negative perspective.
ReplyDeleteI am shocked that women are paid less than men in the same field. It surprises me because if there is a man and woman who are both doctors, who do the same work and perform the same actions, it is completely uncalled for that they are paid differently. What stood out to me the most was a statistic shown in the New York Times article, which states that, “a male doctor’s annual salary is $200,000 while a female doctor’s salary is a $168,000.” This amazed me because who in their right mind would pay a woman who performs the same ability as a man less money. What also stood out to me was in the USA Today article, stating that “the gender wage gap for working women of all ages was 82.2%.” This is an incredible amount and it really struck me because I think how this can affect me later on in my working career. I think that women should begin to stand up for themselves, and work even harder today than they ever had because women need to prove themselves capable of doing just as much as men can. If women stand up for their abilities and their rights, we can make a difference for the incoming generation.
I read the New York Times article, Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less, and the Bloomberg article, Don’t Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap. Both articles support opposite sides of the Gender Wage Gap argument. The author of the first article seems to blame women for the reason of the “gap”. In this article it is assumed that women choose to pick lower paying careers and usually spend less time working. I understand that there are many women who do not work as much as men; however, I believe that in today’s society no one really “chooses” a low paying job. Additionally, the New York Times article says that women would be less likely to bargain for a raise then men. In the Bloomberg article the author portrays the idea that there is still a gap even if the men and women are working equal time and equal jobs. The author of “ Don’t Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap”, explains women are afraid to bargain for a raise and stand out of the crowd because of the discrimination they are already dealing with in the working lifestyle. I am glad I chose the two articles that had opposing ideas and the authors were two different genders. This problem seems to be very controversial and unlawful but still very few people are willing to stand up and make a change. If two workers are doing the same work for the same hours, they should receive the same pay no matter what the gender is!
ReplyDeleteDon't Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap (Bloomberg)
Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less (NY Times)
In the Gender Pay Gap Persists (USA Today) article, it stated that women get paid less because of their college majors, occupation and the number of hours they work Also women tend to enter lower paying fields such as education and social sciences and men typically major in engineering and computer science. The only solution this article suggested was that women could pick majors that pay more. I do agree that women can tend to enter fields that are lower paying because higher paying jobs can sometimes be labeled as jobs for men. Sometimes women can get intimidated by these jobs and not want to enter them. However I believe for women to change this gender gap they need to start entering jobs that more men are in, because when they show that they’re equal and can handle the job they will be paid equally.
ReplyDeleteThe Gender Pay Gap by Industry (NYTimes) article stated that the gender based gap between men and women is caused by industry. Many industries that are male dominated pay higher than female dominated industries. This article did not give any suggestions to improve this gap, but I do agree that industry has a lot to do with how much you get paid. As I stated before I believe women tend to stay away from male dominated industry because they are expected to go into industries that are “more suited” for women. In my opinion the only way to lessen this gap is for women to take on more jobs that normally are male dominated. Women need to break this gap and show that they are equal to men and deserve equal pay.
Although women have made large strides in education and employment, there is still a significant gender pay gap. Women earn less for several reasons, one being their college majors. Women typically study in lower paid fields. These lower paid fields including education and social sciences. Even when men and women enter into the same occupation, women seem to earn 7% less than males. Another reason for the gender wage gap is gender discrimination. Although a man and woman with the same degree looking for the same job right out of college, a man is typically hired in the higher wage job than the woman. Some firms studies show that the structure of the company unfairly benefited men. Women are given information and jobs set up to fail is the philosophy of The Vicious Cycle of the Gender Pay Gap article. An improvement for the pay gap would be for women to choose higher-paying majors such as nursing, computer science, math and engineering.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading majority of the articles I agree that their is a gender wage gap however believe that this should change. I found it shocking that a man and women who studied the same field in college and are looking for the same job, that a man is more likely to be chosen right from the beginning. It is very frustrated as a woman to hear of gender discrimination in the work field because it seems to be out of women's reach to change. I think that women should keep working hard to improve the gender wage gap by entering into fields that men dominate in.
Gender Pay Gap Persists (Wall Street Journal)
Gender Pay Gap by Industry (NY Times)
The Us today article was very gentle in their approach to dealing with the gender wag gap. They gave many explanations as to why there was a gap in pay. One was that women tend to take the lower paying jobs like social sciences and nursing. One way for women to earn more money would be to take the higher paying jobs that are more male dominant. Another explanation in this article was that women are less likely to negotiate their salaries than men are. Men tend to be more aggressive with that type of thing as appose to women.
ReplyDeleteThe second article i read took a different approach. I read the Time Magazine article who blatantly blamed discrimination for the gender wage gap. They said that their is not other reason that it could be and that women are treated unfairly. Even for men and women with the same exact job, their is a 7% wage difference that can not be explained. Women applying for the same job as men with the same work experience are less likely to get the job simply because they are female. I do agree that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Bringing it into the eyes of the public is a good start, but women need to fight for our equal rights.
The Wall Street Journal article says that the wage gap may be smaller than we all think. The percentage is decreasing to historical lows. It says that one reason is that after women have children, they take jobs with lower earnings but with better benefits. I don't know if that is necessarily true, but it is reasonable. The USA today article said that the wage gap is a lot better, but there is still a great difference. Women earn less than men, about 82% of what men earn, in almost every job position. It said a lot of women just happen to go into fields with less pay, but even at the same job, women earn less. It said that men usually negotiate higher salaries than women do. I don't know if that really happens, but it shouldn't. People should be based on the work they do and the hours they put in. It ended by saying that women could go into higher paying jobs, and that the government needs to put more equal laws into effect. I agree with that.
ReplyDeleteIn the USA gender gap persists article they described reasons why there is a gender gap. They confirmed that there certainly is a gender gap also. Some reasons why we have a gender gap were that women do not go into higher paying fields for jobs like engineering, they instead go into social sciences. In this article they do not state any changes in the gender gap they just say that it is not getting any better and even younger women in the workforce are getting paid less then men. The second article i read was Don't blame discrimination for the Gender Gap. This article was not as strong as the first article and seemed to be giving excuses for the gender gap. It said that a lot of women have unemployment history and will then have to enter into a low paying job. They also said that the employer should not be blamed for how things were. I disagreed with this article because it is the employers fault. The employer is the one who hires and pays people therefore that person gets a say in what will be paid. The employers are choosing to make this gender gap a problem.
ReplyDeleteI was truly surprised by both of my articles because i never realized how big the gender gap was. The entire gender gap situation does not make sense to me because i feel like it is impossible to pay someone more just because they are a man. I feel like women need to stand up and fight for better pay. The only way to change this is to protest and not seem weak.
The USA Today article says that women earn less than men due to their college majors, occupation, and the number of hours they work. For the men and women who have the same occupation, there still is a pay gap that is explainable. Women are also less likely to negotiate for a higher salary. The article doesnt suggest an improvement overall but suggests that women choose higher paying majors where there cannot be much discrimination. In the Wall Street Journal article, it says that the gender wage gap isnt as large as it is made out to be. When you take the earnings of a male and female with similar characteristics, the earnings gap is much lower than the raw wage gap. One reason why there might be a gap is because once women start a family, they want a job that has better benefits and a flexible schedule, which could lead to a lower wage than a man.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is discrimination against women when it comes to wages, but you cant compare wages to the general population of male vs. female. The WSJ article said the best way to find the gap is through hourly wages of people with the same job. It is existent but it isnt as bad as what I thought it would be. I think that men and women should be getting very similar wages because the times as changed since and women are becoming more involved in the working society. Both of these articles presented very different points on the wage gap, but both still say it is existing.
I read "Gender pay gap persists" (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2012/10/24/gender-pay-gap/1652511/) and "The Vicious Cycle of the Gender Pay Gap" (http://business.time.com/2012/06/08/the-vicious-cycle-of-the-gender-pay-gap-2/#ixzz2DZZEg7Tu).
ReplyDeleteThe articles were similar in the way that they identified women being at a disadvantage in the grand scheme of payment for jobs. The gender pay gap is inevitable and still a troubling presence in our society. The articles both identified gender discrimination as a prime cause of the gender pay gap. The second article, the Time's article, attempted to offer the explanation that women were "inferior" saleswomen to men, but Madden of the Wharton Business School proved this theory wrong in her social experiment. The inequality only stems from discrimination.
I am slightly shocked after reading these articles, as I honestly believed gender inequality to be slightly outdated. To hear that it is still a problem discourages me a little as I go out into the world. The first, USA Today article identified many statistics that scare me as I will soon be paying off college loans. But I already know that I plan on pursuing a "male" job as a premed math major. I think women should try to branch out like this to bridge the gap between male and female. If women begin taking more masculine roles on, even in the work place, they will be treated more fairly and possibly could even get paid the same. The Time's Article actually gave me hope that there could be some sort of reform, as after they companies went to court, they leveled the playing field with wages. Hopefully actions like these will continue.
In the Wall Street Journal article, the explanation about gender wage gap offered is that the gap is a lot smaller than we think. The "raw wage gap" (16.5%) doesn't take into account the hourly earnings of men and women, the difference in professions (some pay more than others), and the fact that some women WANT lower paying jobs with better benefits after children. After recalculating, the gap was very small (3.6%). This article briefly explains the lower gender gap. In 1989, the gap was 16.5%, today, the gap is only 3.6%. It does not say why the gap is decreasing, however. I do agree with this article. I do agree that the gap is shrinking and that calculating the gap should be more specific in how they calculate it. The point that stood out to me most how low the gap was; I thought it would be higher. I think that women are doing a good job with lowering the gap. I think there is a little possibility in completely getting rid of the gap; I think there will always be one. However, there are always ways to improve it. The only thing I can think of for women to do is to work really hard to get the same kind of high paid positions and professions that men have.
ReplyDeleteThe NY Times article explains that the wage gap depends on industry. The article doesn't suggest whether or not there is an improvement in the gap, but it does say that the gap varies on industry because not many women are in certain industries and they don't get paid as much as men in other industries. I definitely agree with this article; gender wage gap does vary with different industries. A point that stood out to me was that mining, quarrying and oil/gas extraction is a high paying job for women. Though the industry is high for women, I think that it's because women are the ones with high positions in this industry. Based on this article, I think women should try to achieve more labor jobs (so there wouldn't be a gap in those areas) and higher positions in industries.
I read the USA Today story and the Bloomberg View story. In the first article, they say that woman usually pick lower paying jobs, but they say that women who earn less than a man in the same field are probably discriminated against. The second article claims that women earn less because they work less hours and focus more on family. The answer in the first is "Women could pick higher-paying majors, such as nursing, computer science, math, science and engineering" and "The employer has the responsibility to ensure that they do not treat men and women differently. The answer in the second article was "Perhaps men should do more of the work of running households and raising children, and boys should be brought up with that expectation. Perhaps child care should be made more affordable. Perhaps efforts should be made to make sure college women aren’t being steered toward majors that won’t prepare them for lucrative careers." My reaction to the first article was agreement. I believe that women can be discriminated against from the start and if they fight for what they want they can loose more. The second article wasn't making sense to me, it claims that we shouldn't try to fix this problem, although woman are making less. I believe that women should work to close the wage gap. But I also believe that if they want to make the same amount of money, they should work equally as hard.
ReplyDeleteI read the first article, Gender pay gap persists, from USA today and the article from the New York times, Among Doctors, too,Women are paid less. In the USA today article, it says that their are gender pay gaps because women tend to pick majors and jobs that just pay less, and that gender discrimination can play a factor. In the article from The New York Times, it explains that pay gap is more dependent on the industry. In both articles it say that the numbers of hours and professional achievements are explanations for the gender wage gap. The one article focus more on the major/occupation being more of an explanation where as the other article focused more on the industry being an explanation. The New York time article does not suggest an improvement to the gap, it just depends on the industry one specializing in. The other article also does not mention any improvements but it does suggest, then women can just pick jobs with higher paying wages and that the government can put in place equal paying laws.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to read these articles and the gender wage gap, and I was shocked when I was reading them. I was confused when reading the articles and they were saying that males earn a higher salary then a women in the exact same field. If the both earned the same degree and worked just a hard, don't the deserve to get the same salary. In one article it explain that there just might be gender bias there. It said the they presented two identical résumés, one from a male and one from a female, to companies, and they all picked the male over the female. I think that maybe they should try the same experiment but don't put gender on the résumés, and see which they pick. I think women can improve this is by working hard and staying strong and over come obstacles to show men and companies that they can work just was hard and deserve equal pay.
the USA Today article said there is still a gender gap today in 2013 even though women have come a long way in the last 50 years. full time working women straight out of college earn about 82% of what males in the same job earn. Women earn less in every job besides bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. A reason for the gender gap would be the majors that women choose, their occupation after college and the number of hours they work. if a man and women right out college with the same degree walk into a job interview, the man will most likely get put in a higher salary position than the women.
ReplyDeletethe NY Times article also states that women earn about 80 % of what their male counterparts earn. depending on the field there will be a bigger or small gap between men and women. the gap comes from the occupation that the women choose.
I read the articles “Among Doctors, Too, Women Are Paid Less” and “Gender pay gap persists.” In the first article, they discuss that, even with the number of hours worked, the position the individual held, the relationship status, and professional achievements taken into account, women were still receiving less pay. The determined that women tend to take lower-paying jobs and work less hours. While these are not completely the reasons that women receive less pay, these are definitely factors that must be taken into account. After doing more research, they also discovered that women were less likely to ask for a raise or take other job offers from a competing practice. To fix this, they said that there should be a clear policy to determine salaries. This way it would be easier to make sure that men and women are receiving equal pay. In the second article, they discussed that women tended to major in lower-paying fields like social sciences and education, while men majored in higher-paying fields like engineering and computer science. They also agree that women are less likely to ask for a raise. They suggest that women take higher-paying majors to ensure a higher-paying job. They also say that the government needs to better enforce equal pay between men and women.
ReplyDeleteWhat really stood out for me was that women tended to be less likely to ask for a raise. If I were a woman in the workforce, I also think that I would have a difficult time asking for a raise. I always used to think that asking for a raise would make me look bad. However, I think that sometimes it is necessary to ask for a raise in order to receive one. It is interesting that as a female, I feel like asking for a raise would reflect poorly on me despite knowing that asking for a raise would probably be beneficial. I think a lot of women must feel that way based on the research. One thing I think more women need to do is carry themselves with more confidence in the workforce. As I read in the first article, the women who were being asked questions tended to have more unsure answers. I think that if women carried themselves more confidently they would feel more comfortable asking for raises and they would be taken more seriously.
Gender pay gap persists: The gender wage gap explanation in this article shows that women take lower paying jobs, by studying majors that make less money, like social sciences and education. It does suggest that the gap can be improved by women studying in more lucrative fields. I do agree with this article to the point what jobs women typically hold compared to men are less lucrative, so I can see that attributing to the pay gap, however I know that this is not just the only factor. I think that women can fight to be that best at what they do, and hold higher positions in corporations to try and get rid of the stereotypes, and break the gender pay gap.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2012/10/24/gender-pay-gap/1652511/
The gender pay gap by industry: The explanation offered in this article about the gender wage gap is that figures are grouped by industry, and not by occupation. The gaps in the industry can also be explained by the different types of jobs that men and women go into. This article does suggest improvement in the gap because it shows that part- time female workers earn more than male, and the gender wage gap is smaller for younger works, which is a positive sign for the upcoming working generation. I do agree with this article because it makes sense that wages between men and women vary depending on the industry and in extension the job. Based on this article I think that women can improve their earnings by getting into more lucrative industries and competing with the men.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/the-gender-pay-gap-by-industry/
I read "Don't Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap" and "Gender pay gap persists".
ReplyDeleteThe first article talk about how the pay gap "is exaggerated, discrimination doesn’t drive it and it’s not clear that government can eliminate it -- or should even try." It says that the reason women don't make as much money as men is because women, on average, work fewer hours than men. Furchtgott-Roth cited a 2005 study by economists June O’Neill and Dave O’Neill, which found that "the gender gap is attributable to choices made by women concerning the amount of time and energy to devote to a career. There is no gender gap in wages among men and women with similar family roles." So basically what they're saying is that women are more likely to not devote the time into their career. Women are also more likely to have gaps in their employment history and to enter lower-paying fields and to have part-time jobs, the article said. I can almost see how that works and agree with it because most women get jobs to support themselves and their family. Being that they have a family and are usually the sole care taker, they cannot spend so much time working.
In the second article, it said that "women earn less for a several reasons including their college majors, occupation and the number of hours they work. Today, women still tend to enter lower-paid fields such as education and social sciences, while men typically major in engineering and computer science. AAUW took a closer look at the difference between men and women who enter the same occupation. The apples-to-apples comparison found that women still earned about 7% less than their male counterparts. Give their similarities, this pay gap is unexplained, and gender discrimination is one potential factor, the study says." This is talking about the reasons why women usually are paid less, but mentions that discrimination MIGHT be a part of the reason. I guess I can see this also because often, women are looked down on as frail or unable because of their sex.
A few things I think women should do is be confident in their work and enter a field they love that they know will be able to support her and her child possibly with ease. It's also crucial to work extra hard to make sure that the company needs you and wants you around and would do anything to keep you to stay.
Some explanations for the gender wage gap are women enter lower paying fields, gender discrimination, and the amount of time and energy devoted to a career. Yes some articles suggest an improvement in the gap because they believe in equal pay for men and women. If a man and a woman have the same job and do the same work, they should be paid the same. I think women are being discriminated based on being females. I think people still believe that women are not as tough and strong as a male and therefore do not deserve the same amount of money. I think women should stand up and argue to make the same amount as men if they do the same amount of work.
ReplyDeleteThe two articles that I chose to read were the Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less (NY Times)and Gender Pay Gap Persists (USA Today). In both of those articles they say that an explaination could be that the women do not, or dont try hard enough to negotiate the pay they earn when getting a job. The Gender Pay Gap Persists (USA Today)and Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less (NY Times)both say that some women that do try to negotiate for higher salaries sometimes get penalized for it. Gender Pay Gap Persists (USA Today)also says that some women choose the wrong college majors that lean toward the low paying fields of work such as teaching and social sciences when they should be more focused in fields such as engineering or nursing. Yes the articles do suggest an improvement for in the gap, in the Gender Pay Gap Persists article it says that women should try to be more interested in the higher paying fields such as sciences or engineering because those are the fields that men are most interested in and they do have higher pay than education or social science. I thought that articles were both very interesting to read; I honestly did not know about this issue until we discussed it in class. Reading all of the articles about it has made an impact on me personal thoughts on what I would want to study and choose as my college major. I was shocked to read that the women werent aggressive when it came to negotiating their salaries, I dont know I would think that if women are trying to show that they are independent and not have to rely on anyone, that they would try to make their stand and not back down. I think women should not be so weak in the negotiating area, yes it isnt an easy thing to do, but women are strong and they should stand up in what they believe is right.
ReplyDeleteIn the USA Today article, they recognize the existing issue about the gender wage gap. It explains although women are receiving more prestigious degrees, their wages greatly differ from men’s. The article also states that women receive even less because part of their salary goes towards their college student loans that are owed. Thus, the article explains that a stronger enforcement or new legislation should be put into action. Likewise, the NY Times article makes an argument on how female physicians make less in comparison to male physicians. The article recalls a story of a female physician attending a medical meeting, which made her question her confidence as a female doctor. The woman in the story stated that she found that the male doctors expressed more confidence than the women doctors did. This story led to the discussion about the wage difference between female and male physicians. The article concludes with the solution that by standardizing the process of compensation and career advancement can lead to the fairness between female and male doctors to finally be settled.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of the articles that women are unfairly paid in comparison to men. I found the USA Today article corresponding with what I exactly feel about the gender wage gap. With the NY Times article, I found it shocking that even female physicians suffer from unfair payments in comparison with men. I think working forces should not discriminate gender in determining the salary one should receive. Furthermore, the government should re-evaluate these policies and make women equal to men in the working force because women are capable in doing what a man can accomplish.
Gender Pay Gap Persists (USA Today)
Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less (NY Times)
The USA Today (Gender Pay Gap Persists) article explains how women are more likely to get lower paying jobs than men, because they work in areas like education and social sciences and don’t work the same amount of hours as men. The New York Times (Among Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less) article justifies the gender wage gap by saying that women are not as aggressive as men in advancing in their careers, even if they work more hours than their male counterparts. Both articles suggest an improvement, but only if women change the way they present themselves in the workplace and if employers are willing to change the status quo.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with both articles, because women do tend to focus more on lower paying jobs, but times are changing. In a hospital environment I can see how a woman may be more reserved in their way of being especially when they have to deal with men who are usually held to a higher standard. I also agree that when a woman tries to be more aggressive with her job and wanting to get ahead, employers see that as a bad thing. I think that women should try to promote a healthy competition with men in their professions, so that there is competition. It would also benefit to have employers see this competition and maybe influence them to make an effort to change the norms.
The two articles I read were "Gender Pay Gap by Industry" (NYTimes), and "Don't Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap" (Bloomberg). The first article, "Gender Pay Gap by Industry” stated that women earn only 80 % of what their male co-workers earned. The article also suggested that there is difference in earnings based on the industry. Some jobs, such as construction has a much smaller difference in pay, as opposed to a job concerning financial activities. I think it is so crazy that women would earn 80% of what a man does doing the same job, however I did notice that this article was written by a woman. I feel that this woman may have some bias in saying that women are earn less than men only from her personal experience, by she did not look at statics. Education level, “people” skills, and family obligations may conflict with work causing certain employees to earn less than others.
ReplyDeleteThe second article, " Don't Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap" immediately stated just from the title that they do not feel gender plays a role in the amount of income earned by an employee. When I began reading the article the first thing that stood out to me was the statement that "The pay gap is exaggerated, discrimination doesn’t drive it and it’s not clear that government can eliminate it -- or should even try." As soon as I read this I wondered if a man wrote the article. And sure enough Ramesh Ponnuru was in fact a man. Before I finished the article the bias from being in a man's point of view stood out to me loud and clear. This article supported their point by stating that different sources claim the gap is due to the fact that women generally work fewer hours than men. Also, a statement that I found very important regarding employers was that " 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, there is a clear need for stronger steps to help close the gender gap" immediately my first reaction was that discrimination was in fact involved. However the author's response to it got me thinking. The author stated that there are other factors that could explain this statistic and we cannot jump straight to saying it is caused by discrimination.
Both the article "Gender Pay Gap Persists" and "Gender Wage Gap May Be Smaller Than Many Think" were very insightful into the issues surrounding the gender pay gap. The authors of the articles agree that women have made huge gains in education and employment but still fight for equality in terms of pay. Both articles offer that women tend to chose lower paying majors in college like education and social sciences as a possible reason for this. There is a disparity of men in higher paying professions. The article "Gender Pay Gap Persists" suggests that this gap could be due to discrimination against women who try t negotiate for a higher salary. "Gender Wage Gap May Be Smaller Than Many Think" suggests that the pay gap could be due to many women taking jobs that have lower pay but better benefits after having children. All of these reasons are very logical and seem to make an impact on the wage gap. I think that the article "Gender Wage Gap May Be Smaller Than Many Think" makes this point that while overall women earn 82.2% less than men, the actual wage gap between a man and a woman doing the same job is 7%.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the gap may seem small, I still think it is unfair and needs to be fixed. There is no reason that women should make less money than men for doing the same job. I think more women should branch out into the typically male-dominated professions. Women should also lobby Congress to find a solution to this problem. I think women should stand up and negotiate for higher wages and fight the discrimination against them. It is unjust that this would still exist in 2013.
I checked out "Study Finds Gender Gap in Doctors' Pay" (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/among-doctors-too-women-are-paid-less/) and "Don't Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-13/don-t-blame-discrimination-for-gender-wage-gap.html) as my two articles. They were wildly different in their approach of the issue, with the first condemning the gender gap and the second insisting that there is no real gender gap because of the difference between men and women and the amount they devote to their work.
ReplyDelete1a. My first article, about doctors, blamed rooted prejudices, which make it more likely for a superior to choose a man over a woman, and the differences in the way women tend to promote themselves. Women tend to be less aggressive about raises and getting their just compensation for the work they do than men. The resulting difference in wage earnings is $12,000, according to the NY Times.
2a. The article does end on a happy note, promising hope for the future. Dr. Jagsi, the individual interviewed for this article, expressed a hope and conviction that women will succeed in closing the gender wage gap.
3a. I do like this article, though that could have something to do with my feminist bias. It seems to have the right balance of reality (women earn less than men and here are some ideas of why that don't just place the blame on either the women or those in charge) and hope (one day, we can completely eradicate the problem.
1b. My first article, which was from Bloomberg, places the blame not on discrimination but squarely on the women themselves. Insisting that the reasons that the gender wage gap exists is based on the fact that women are in less lucrative kinds of jobs, don't negotiate like men, and are often the homemakers. Thus, discrimination has little to nothing to do with the wage gap.
2b. This article suggests little hope of change, or even that we should try to change the situation. Instead, the author insists that the lessened devotion many women have for their job because of their status as homemakers should overrule any concerns about the gender wage gap.
3b. Simply put, this article pissed me off. Yes, women are often in less lucrative jobs. Yes, many women are homemakers or heads of household. No, that does not mean that they should be paid less than a man for doing the same or comparable job. Feminist rant over.
4. I think advocating for the continued closure of the gap, as well as giving women the opportunity to attend some kind of seminar about leadership and tips for negotiating for a raise and/or a better position regularly would be a good plan.
In the USA Today article regarding the gender wage gap claims that there are several reasons why, two of them being college majors, and occupation. Today, women still tend to enter lower-paid fields such as education and social sciences, while men typically major in engineering and computer science. USA Today chose to look further into the gender wage gap and focus on those who entered into the same occupation and noticed that there was still a gap of about 7% between men and women. In both the USA Today article and the Economix article it states in 2009 women are paid around 88% of what men are paid for doing equal work. I was shocked to see that two people of different genders could do equal work and the woman would automatically be paid less. In my opinion it seems that there has been vast improvements from years back but it still is very unfair for women.
ReplyDeleteThe explanations that are offered are that many women already go into low paying salary jobs such as education and social science. Also, women are seemed to have less flexbile hours and go on maternity leave. The articles suggest an improvement in the gap because many years ago there was a huge difference between male and female wages, if women got a salary at all. They do suggest an improvement in the wages and women need to continue this and confront this big issue. I disagree with the differences in wages based on their gender. Differences in wages should be based off their ability to do their job, not uncontrollable factors such as their gender. It stood out to me most how women and men doctors get paid so much more differently. This is very unfair and I think if more women are exposed to these articles, they will do something about it. I knew a lot of the time that women were underpaid compared to men, but I didn't know that it was this substantialy different. Women need to come together with this issue and fight against it. Roles are beginning to change with females and males, husbands and wives, moms and dads. There are many stay at home dads now while the mothers are working. The stereotype of men being the man of the house, and the man who brings home the money is changing along with stereotypes about mothers being the stay at home moms, running the house. Times are changing, and so should womens' wages compared to men. People need to realize this and women need to come together and change this large issue.
ReplyDeleteGender Pay Gap Persists (USA Today)
ReplyDeleteAmong Doctors, Too, Women are Paid Less (NY Times)
The USA Today article suggests some reasons for the existing issue about the gender wage gap. Women are now receiving more prestigious degrees than men, yet men are being paid significantly higher than women. Being that women get paid a less amount of money, they are not able to pay their student loans back quickly. With every small paycheck they are taking a big chunk to pay their student loan debt. The article concludes by stating that the government has had equal-pay laws on the books for a while but now are realizing they need a stronger enforcement for new legislation. The NY Times article also suggests similar things, especially on the fact how a stronger legislation should be put into effect. The article explains how the pay gap also hurts you psychologically. Males are more confident in their work than women, and it solely relies on their pay. In both articles it is clear that the pay gap effects women more than just being paid less than men.
Both of these articles have broadened my perspective on the gender gap in income. The pay gap is so unfair in the sense that they are both doing the same job but one is getting a lower pay than the other. I can really relate to this because my dream drop is male dominant. I hope in time that a stronger legislation is put into effect so I won't have to receive these unfair payments.
1. The explanations offered are because women will leave work to have children, they will not work as much and as hard as men will/would.
ReplyDelete2. The articles are looking towards equal pay between men and women
3. I believe that both men and women should be payed equal, due to the fact that they are completing the same job equally and thus should be payed equally, some women may be the "bread winner" in their family, and some may be single parents who need this money to help raise their children.
4. to improve the wage gap, women should protest and demand to be payed equal. It is only fair that the discrimination stop, if this was happening to men, I believe they would feel the same way.
In the US Today Article they provided us with many explanations about the gap in pay. They explained that women get paid less because they are less likely to be aggressive and stand up for what they want. Men negotiate their salaries and push to get more money, whereas women do not negotiate as much. This article also said that women take lower paying jobs compared to men. If women majored in more male dominant jobs there would be a more likely chance for them to make a higher paying salary.
ReplyDeleteAnother article that I read took a completely different stance in the explanation of the gender wage gap. In the Time Magazine the article believed that discrimination was simply the cause. They believe that would are treated unfairly and will always get a lower paying job. The male population does control the most elite jobs with the higher paying salaries that women will never be able to achieve. It is not a matter of who wants to and doesn't, it's a matter of if people are ready for a change. This change is not only in our country but other countries will look upon us to see how we are running out country. Women are just as capable as males and more people should recognize that and fight for what they want.