Abolishment of Gender Pay Gap Essay

Gender discrimination has been an issue that has been combated over the years by women who seek to bring about equality. Discrimination has been identified to be one of the causes of economic degradation and poor or slow development (Equality and Discrimination). Equality, on the other hand, provides an opportunity for everyone with a contribution to do so in improving development and ensures that everyone reaps the benefits equally. In the past and even currently, there still is discrimination in the workplace whereby some people are denied opportunities because of their gender. Men are denied secretariat jobs, and women are denied jobs requiring hard labor despite being perfectly capable of handling the task. As if not enough, gender discrimination has been extended to the pay of women. In most countries, women are paid less than men, despite performing equal tasks in some cases. The United Nations has confirmed that women are paid 60-70% less than men globally (UN Women, 2017, para. 1). This kind of discrimination has raised worries, concerns and infuriated women who believe that they have a right to equal pay. Some men have also expressed similar sentiments, and it would be unjust if these men advocating for women's rights were not acknowledged. Seeing as statistics has revealed that there is more to benefit from equal pay, this paper seeks to provide the basis upon which gender pay gap should not exist.

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According to a report generated by the United Nations Women (UN Women), there are several benefits of economic empowerment that advocates for equal pay of women as men. The UN Women website indicates that there is faster economic growth if there is no gender pay gap (UN Women, 2017, para. 1). This is one of the things that every country ought to consider when deciding the pay that women should get. From the example set by Iceland, the new GDP that could be realized from equal pay and active participation of women in the workforce would catapult to a whopping $28 trillion (Henshall, 2018, para. 27). BBC further states that most countries have laws that require equal pay across the genders. This, however, is an issue that most employers do not take seriously. There is a provision for those affected to take the matter to court, but then, before the matter is resolved, it would have taken years to get the case to court in the first place. It is quite evident that giving women an equal pay would be more beneficial than damaging to a country's economic development. The example set by the women in Iceland is proof that eliminating the gender pay gap is for the better.

There is a lot to consider before paying women the same as men. In most households, the woman or the wife takes care of the children, the elderly and most of the house chores. This leaves them with less time to invest in their careers and even less time for leisure. These challenges that face women should be the core reason to pay them equally or more for that matter. It has been found that men usually have more time for leisure than women (UN Women, 2017, para. 10). Some situations have revealed the dire difficulty that single mothers face. A scenario provided in by The Economist has shown how the career world of a woman can come crumbling down just because the employer has rejected her request for more flexible hours (The Economist, 2017, para. 1). This kind of lack of consideration brings to question the morality of the society and its utter disregard of the role that women play. Given that women have more on their plate than men, the least that can be done for them is to allocate them equal pay as men. This would enable them to cater for most of the things that are more essential rather than to be entirely dependent on their spouses or more dependents. The UN Women facts and figure report showed that women are more likely to use their share of household money for the benefit of children (UN Women, 2017, para. 2). For this reason, I advocate for the abolishment of gender pay gap.

Finally, two factors coincide that are in support of abolishing gender pay gap. One of these factors has already been stated above. It is the fact that most countries already have laws that require employers to pay both their men and women equally. The other factor is that the education system has advanced to allow anybody to do any course of their choice. Starting from the latter, if the education system allows both men and women to do courses of their choice, then courses like nursing - conventionally known to be exclusively for women - would see inputs from the male gender. If this is the case, therefore, would it mean that male nurse would be paid more than the female nurses? If so, it would be so unfair. It is unfair because that is the case (Muench et al., 2015, para. 5). All the nurses performing the same duty across equal shifts deserve equal and fair pay. Similarly, courses such as engineering and construction that were conventionally considered masculine would see female graduates apply for the relevant job vacancies and probably get the positions. If the women in those posts prove to be competent and capable to handle the task assigned to them such that they are completed in time and according to standards, would not they have attained the right to be paid as equal as men in those positions? Female engineers as of 2009 were being paid less than their male counterparts when in fact they should be earning the same (Besse, 2009, para. 1). It is a matter of logic, and it boils down to the fact that discrimination has to be abolished if there is to be considered sanity in the society.

On the matter of the law, it is very simple. Employers are not above the law, and if they are, then they should not be. There have been cases where the aggrieved women tried to take action through the proper channels, but failed because the system would not make it easy for them to present their cases in court. Following this kind of difficulty, most of these women give up and live with the lesser pay they are given. For this reason alone, it suffices to say that the corruption of systems should be dealt with and women should be given a voice. It would only take a few court orders to get all the other employers toe the line of the law. In most of these countries, getting the law passed must have been difficult as it already is and yet after that, they still fail to reap the benefits of their struggle. The level of unfairness is immeasurable, and it is as such that I strongly advocate for the abolishment of gender pay gap.

Conclusion

In as much as gender pay gap is beneficial to women, it is at some level unfair. Taking an arbitrary scenario whereby the man of the house - the husband, goes to work in the morning and gets back in the evening, exhausted while the wife has not worked as hard because of an allocation of a flexible schedule, it would be unfair to the man that he should take care of the family on his pay while the woman maintains her pay however small. The society has changed over the years, and as such, there is an equal contribution to the demands of the house for most families.

Even though the laws in many countries advocating for the abolishment of gender pay gap, there are still conventional ideas that have to be phased out to have women get paid as equally as men. There are, however, more compelling reasons that will shift the thinking of employers and have them do away with the gender pay gap.

Works Cited

"Facts And Figures: Economic Empowerment". UN Women, 2017, http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figureshttp://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures. Accessed 29 Apr 2018.

Besse, Tim. "Engineering Pay Gap? Glassdoor Reveals Many Women Engineers Earn Less Than Men - Glassdoor Blog". Glassdoor Blog, 2018, https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/engineering-pay-gap-glassdoor-reveals-many-women-engineers-earn-less-than-men/. Accessed 29 Apr 2018.

Equality and Discrimination. 2018.

Henshall, Angela. "What Iceland Can Teach The World About Gender Pay Gaps". BBC, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180209-what-iceland-can-teach-the-world-about-gender-pay-gaps. Accessed 29 Apr 2018.

Muench, Ulrike et al. "Salary Differences between Male and Female Registered Nurses in the United States". JAMA, vol 313, no. 12, 2015, p. 1265. American Medical Association (AMA), doi:10.1001/jama.2015.1487. Accessed 29 Apr 2018.

The Economist. "The Gender Pay Gap". 2017, https://www.economist.com/news/international/21729993-women-still-earn-lot-less-men-despite-decades-equal-pay-laws-why-gender. Accessed 29 Apr 2018.