Publisher: Sergio Martinez
Gender pay gap is the smallest yet, but there's nothing to celebrate yet.
Article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gender-pay-gap-is-the-smallest-yet-but-dont-rejoice/
Last Wednesday, September 16, 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau released information saying that women who work full-time make 21% less money than men with similar full-time jobs. This means that women only make 79 cents to every $1 dollar a man earns. Even if women's pay has increased in the past years, the difference remains abysmal. And its even more surprising when you find out why the gap has narrowed. The gap shortened because mens' pay has decreased in the last decade, and not necessarily because women's' pay has really increased.
The real question is why this gap still exists? Is it the women's' fault, is it the employers' fault, or the government's fault? If I was an employer and could find a women with the same education, qualifications, and experience that would work the same hours and do the exact same job, but for 21% less pay, then the smart thing to do would be to hire only women and not men.
Due to the competitiveness when finding a job, there is always someone willing to do the same job for less pay, but why women need to be the ones who suffer from this? This is unacceptable. Whenever people complete a task or do their job, they should get a reward. The reward should be relative to their capacity and effectiveness when completing a jog or getting work done. In this case, the reward would be money, so if we follow the pattern, then people, disregarding gender, should receive the exact same amount of money when they complete the same task under the same criteria.
The government says they are working on reducing the gap, but what they have been saying for decades doesn't reflect on what we see today. Women accept the jobs because they need the money, just as anybody, but its unjust to offer them less and expect the same. Yet, women, who are hardworking and passionate on their jobs, sometimes make better work that most of men who are getting paid much more. I know women who work all day long and still get paid less than a man that only worked for 8 hours a day. This is not fair, specially if they are doing the same job.
So hypothetically, imagine a world were this gap doesn't exist and everyone gets paid the same if they have completed the same job. Would there be chaos? No. Would there be revolts? No. Would people complaint? No. So then what is stopping us from that change? The truth is that the only ones that would be affected would be the employer, but outside of them, everything would be okay. Unfortunately, big companies run the world, and most of those companies are run by men, what a surprise.
It is pretty weird that men are paid more than women and i simply don't understand how that's even possible. If women are considered to be equal to men then why are they being treated like this? If they receive the same level of education why do men still earn more than women? If a man can get 23,000 per year with a master's degree then a women should be receiving equivalent to what that man got if she herself obtained a degree. I asked one of my friends what he thought of the situation and he told me that some women can't physically do some jobs which is why they get paid less and maybe I can understand that but if their levels of intelligence are the same, there's no reason to have such a gap in earnings.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anela. Women should get the same amount of pay that her "equal" male counterpart, thats the plain and honest truth. A women who has the same qualifications that a man has, whether education wise or skill wise, should be equally compensated for her work. A burger made by a woman or a man tastes the same. A weld made by a woman or a man is the same thing. Whatever a man can do, a woman can do, and the quality of the work lies with the amount of effort is put in, regardless of sex. Some jobs are regarded traditionally as too "hard for women, for example active roles in the military. Although there is some degree of truth in some aspects of that view, all that means is a woman has to try harder, like the ones who passed Ranger School Qualifications a few weeks ago. Anyone can do anything if they work and focus hard enough, and they should be equally compensated on the basis of their WORK, not their sex or anything else that is trivial.
ReplyDeleteI believe that every person should be paid according to their ability and not according to their gender. I do believe that things like these gender arguments are sometimes blown out of proportion by feminists and such, but I also believe that women should not get paid less just because they are women. If you are a woman and do quality work, and a man does the same quality work, they should both be getting the same pay. It is quite ridiculous knowing that even today there is a pay gap between men and women who do the same type of work. I believe in equality for men and women just as I believe in equality between the races and sexual orientations etc. Therefore, it is only right if there is no pay gap between the sexes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Meaghan. People should be paid based on how they do their job rather than their gender. If a man a woman hold the same position and both are very successful, they should be paid the same. If the same quality of work is being done, the pay should be the same. It is hard for me to believe that there is still a pay gap between genders in the world we live in today. There are many stereotypes that swirl around about men and women in job fields. I have heard that most doctors are men, most nurses are women and most pilots are men. The list goes on. None of this should matter because if men and women do any job with great quality and care, they should be paid the same amount. There should be no pay gap between males and females.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Meaghan on two important points. Personally, I see a lot of feminist movements where a lot of the time most of what they're saying in blown out of proportion. I think that in order to induce change we need to understand which aspects of feminism are the most important. The pay gap is arguably the most obvious showing of inequality between the sexes. In my opinion, this pay gap is the most important issue raised by feminists. This is obviously wrong and makes no sense given the fact that they are getting less pay for the same work. I think if feminists started to pay more attention to the things that need immediate change, we would start to see a difference. While I understand that there are many aspects to feminism and it's all one big movement, things like the pay gap and rape should be the most prevalent in the public eye.
ReplyDeleteIt is still hard to believe that women are still paid less than men in these days. Mary, I totally agree with you. Especially in the past few years, feminist movements have been very evident throughout the country and world fighting for equal rights. Connecting back to the reading " Blame It on Feminism" by Susan Faludi that was assigned a couple days ago, women seem to have all these rights and so much freedom through out the years they are still unhappy. With reason, they should be able to be upset about this however I believe that a lot of the time, things are blown way out of proportion. There is a time and place for change and it's clear to see that there still needs to be change with things such as the wage gap however people need to realize that things can't change as quickly as they want and with time. Just as in history, things will change.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read the article, I was not sure if the difference was because of the positions men and women held. There could have been the difference because of the types of jobs men and women typically hold. However, after reading the article, I learned that those who have similar jobs and positions still earn a different amount. This was shocking to me and it gave me a new perspective. It does not make sense to me there there should be this difference. If women can work the same way and as well as men, why should they be paid less? Anyone qualified for the job should be paid a fair amount and not depending on gender.
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ReplyDeleteAs a female who aspires to get a career in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and majoring in computer science (coding/programing) and since there are few females who aspire to be coders and programmers, it is important to me that I should receive an equal pay to what men who program and code make. Though regardless, gender should not have any impact on pay. I was curious if there was still a pay gap between men and woman in the STEM fields, though to my surprise (for some reason) there was. However the gap is less than 21% but nonetheless there is still a gap (13% for woman who do coding). I find it quite sad that no matter what job is or demand for woman or not, woman will work for a lower pay than what men work. I find it interesting that the gap has decreased, because men’s pay has decreased, though why has the pay decreased for men? Why is it that large companies that are run by men give higher pays to men? Personally it does not make sense to me, why a man and woman who are both equally qualified for a job would receive different pays.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aauw.org/2015/04/14/women-shortchanged-in-stem/
For me this fact isn't shocking and that is saddening. The shock doesn't come because women fought for jobs in mostly dominated men's fields only back in the 1970s. Although now that is 40 years ago and the pay gap should be resolved there are definitely still men that do not believe women are worthy of the same. The equally saddening fact to this is most minority women in America are paid less than not only men but their white female colleagues. Is this really fair? Of course not. This world we live in needs change.
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