pervasiveness of gender gap pay in the U.S.A.

The prevalence of the gender pay gap in the United States is discussed in the study. Significant pay disparities between men and women exist in the nation. In addition to earning 20% less than males who work full-time, women typically work in low-paying jobs like secretaries or administrative assistants. Despite numerous regulations being implemented to remedy the disparities, women have consistently been undervalued over time. In addition, the article examines a few possible causes of the divide as well as steps society may take to stop the problem from getting worse. Because they favor hiring men for certain jobs, managers and human resource professionals have been found to be a major contributor to the job positions. As a result, women are advised to develop their negotiation skills and take up lucrative careers that can make them more competitive. The paper also identifies some of the initiatives taken by the government to address the issue such as the establishment of overtime laws and federal programs. These initiatives should encourage the women and the society of the wide range of solutions that can be adopted to close the gender gap and promote equality in the workplace and the society as a whole.

Gender Pay Gap

America’s wage data has been kept secret overtime perpetuating the underpayment of women and other minority groups. Firms have policies that forbid employees from discussing their salaries hence establish intimidating corporate cultures to their workers. Women may undervalue themselves when negotiating for a new salary since they may not know the actual pay of a job. Research depicts the dominance of women in lowly paid jobs is relatively high. A study on the pay system of the state of Minnesota found women to receive a twenty percent less pay compared to men despite having equal job scores on the job evaluation system (NCPE, n.d.). Notably, the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act have failed to eliminate the discrimination in the job market and salary inequalities. These laws have become difficult to enforce making legal cases difficult to prove and win. Employers often withhold information required in these pay equity cases hence contributing to the discriminatory pay practices (Wagner, 2015). Moreover, laws such as the Equal Pay Act restricts women from filing class-action lawsuits. Pursuing an equal pay case may, therefore, wreak havoc in the women’s personal and financial lives. This discrimination gives women a difficult time in breaking into the male-dominated jobs. As a result, they do not have an opportunity to grow professionally and take leadership positions in the job market (Holunga & Brozena, 2017). The old stereotype of men being the family breadwinners denies them the opportunity to seek for pay equity. Gender equality is still a problem in the U.S.A. This paper aims to present the causes of wage disparity between males and females.

History of gender equality

Over the decades, compensation of men has remained higher compared to women’s resulting to the development of a gender salary gap. During War II, women got into the war industries to seek jobs. Therefore, the board of the National War Labor of 1942 urged employers to make adjustments to salaries paid to women for equal pay to that of men. However, employers failed to heed these requests leading to the signing of the Equal Pay Act in 1963 that was to help eliminate the salary inequalities (IWPR, 2017). Unfortunately, the Act has not managed to achieve its primary objective because of the inadequate remedies and limited enforcement tools. Therefore, women still earn less compared to males at work (Holunga & Brozena, 2017). In 2009, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed to make filing a claim much easier. The law defines every paycheck as a discriminatory act hence women can file a claim within 180 days after their last paycheck. Nonetheless, discrimination against women is still pervasive in America with a range of causal factors.

Causes of wage disparity

The gender wage gap exists in almost all occupations across industries, at numerous levels of education and nonprofit and private sectors. This wage disparage is continuously decreasing but at a slow rate such that America would take up to 2058 to achieve the gender pay equity (Wagner, 2015). One of the causes of wage disparities are the subtle work stereotypes. Pay discrimination is greatly reinforced by subtle stereotypes which result in unconscious gender bias. The current pay gap is perceived to be as a result of the cultural and social beliefs prevalent in the society. The greatest factor explaining this gap is the difference in work hours by women and men. Women tend to work in part-time jobs than working all year round (NCPE, n.d.). Over time, these low working hours have resulted in women having lower experience levels compared to men. These fewer experience levels ultimately translate into low pay. Nevertheless, this pay gap may be felt at the employment time before one's experience can even be determined. Research indicates that women aged between 16 and 24 earn 90 to 95percent of the earnings of men. The college-aged women starting off at work earn seven percent less compared to their counterpart males (Wagner, 2015). Moreover, the differences in the chosen degree fields result in the occupational and industrial differences between the two genders with women joining industries and occupations with lower pay.

Statistics show thirty-two percent of the US working women to be low-paying office support and sales occupations. On the contrary, women represent in high paying jobs only account for 9 percent of the working women. It, therefore, implies that women enrolled in college courses may face the risk of low pay and high discrimination in the job market depending on the college courses. The differences in industries, working hours, occupations, experience and education can explain almost fifty percent of the differences in pay between men and women. However, there is an intangible factor which is discrimination. Gender pay equity has become an issue of concern among managers, all other workers, families, and women in particular. All employees desire to earn their wages on a competitive basis while expecting rewards for the best workers regardless of their gender (NCPE, n.d.). Nonetheless, managers continue to exhibit discrimination in paying their workers. On the other hand, human resource officers augment the disparity because of their preference of recruiting more male workers compared to women in high paying jobs.

Solutions to gender pay gap

Defining the complexity of causes of gender wage disparity can be challenging making it difficult to find solutions. Change in this disparity can only be accompanied by solid approaches to the recognized causal factors as well as an understanding of the subtle discrimination at the workplace. One way of addressing the gender gap is through ensuring transparency in determining pay. This approach should include an open discussion of methods used to determine pay with measurable criteria such as years of experience, education and the measures of quantitative performance (IWPR, 2017). Moreover, the provision of a job's salary range can encourage women to negotiate for their starting salary based on the given range. Furthermore, the provision of parental leave for both women and men can spread family duties across all genders (Holunga & Brozena, 2017). The women receiving maternity leave are also likely to resume work after birth hence higher retention of women at work and registering reduced long periods of being away from the job market.

Notably, changing the cultural and social beliefs at an individual level can reduce the pay gap. People can recognize the subtle differences in gender treatment at the workplace and motivate women to negotiate for promotions and raises. The US government has also taken the initiative of reducing wage inequality through the establishment of federal government programs and overtime laws (Pucheta-Martinez & Bel-Oms, 2014). For instance, the OFCCP, Office of the Federal Contract Compliance Programs, reduces and wipes off discrimination among the federal contractors and subcontractors. It also identifies the underpaid work, gives affirmative action and offers employment opportunities for all people regardless of the race, color or gender (Holunga & Brozena, 2017). The overtime laws demand compensation for any hours at work beyond the 40 weekly work hours. The equal pay day celebrated each year in the US also helps highlight the disparages in wage between men and women. This annual day serves as a review day for any actions taken from the previous year to reduce this gap.

Conclusion

Bridging and eliminating the gap requires a broad range of solutions. Gender disparity is increasingly becoming dominant in the society. Women need to be motivated and encouraged to take lucrative careers such as in engineering, math, and technology to be competitive as their male counterparts. They can make an impact by cultivating their negotiation skills and keep employing the skills throughout their careers (Holunga & Brozena, 2017). They could also seek out promotions at work and have Congressional Representatives that can defend and fight against the wage inequalities. The Paycheck Fairness Act can be of significance in ensuring equality and fair compensation. The US government can also bridge the gap through enforcing and strengthening their legislation tools (Pucheta-Martinez & Bel-Oms, 2014). The overtime laws and federal programs developed by the Department of Labor can be implemented, and their sustainability ensured for the government to close the gender gap. Finally, at individual levels, people need to acknowledge the discriminatory cultural and social beliefs and fight them to promote fairness and equality at the workplace.

References

Holunga, J. & Brozena, J. (2017). Closing the Gender Gap. Tips and Resources for Women to Rise in their Careers.

Institute for Women's Policy Research, IWPR. (2017). Employment, Education and Economic Change. Pay Equity & Discrimination.

National Committee on Pay Equity, NCPE. (n.d.) Top 10 Reasons for the Wage Gap.

Pucheta-Martinez, M. C. & Bel-Oms, I. (2014). The Gender Gap in Pay in Company Boards. Industrial & Corporate Change, 24(2): 467-510.

Wagner, B. (2015). The Complex Causes of the Gender Pay Gap. Montana Business Quarterly, 53(3): 16.