The Nature and Evidence of Gender Pay Gap Essay Example

Introduction

Various authors pass gender wage gap as a form of gender discrimination. It occurs when men and women receive different pay for substantially the same work (Armani, 2013). However, more specific definitions have been adduced to measure the wage gap as "the difference between male and female earning expressed as a percentage of male earnings" (Armani, 2013,1). Thus, the underlying test for the circumstances that reflect a discriminative pay include the existence of the same level of skills, similar responsibilities and expectations yet there persists discrimination in wages at the disadvantage of women (Aparna, Son, & Roh, 2015). This study shall adopt this operational definition while taking to account those underlying aspects that define the nature of the gender wage gap.

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It is certainly the fact that the gender wage gap exists as an ascertainable social fact. Both empirical and analytical data has been provided to prove the existence of the gender wage gap in the U.S. For instance, wage stagnation and sluggish growth in income over the last two decades have the outcome of unequal pay relatively between men and women (Mishel, 2013). Also, studies also show that this practice is prevalent and therefore can be designated as universal and persistent (Lips, 2013). This research adopts this perception and analyses the gender pay gap in the U.S. from a global lens.

Cause and Factors Contributing to the Gender Pay Gap

Many social and factual reasons have been cited to account for the existing wage gap in America. For instance, economists aver that limited occupational choices for the feminine gender result in the gender wage gap (Armani, 2013). Armani argues that the wage gap results from limited occupational choices for women and motherhood penalty while indicating that up to 15% of the 23% wage gap in the U.S. cannot be accounted for (2013). What underlies the findings of her qualitative analysis is that sexual division of labor results in occupational segregation hence attraction of men to scientific highly paying jobs and women to artistic low-paying jobs (Armani, 2013). Even so, this does not reflect the definition of equal work for equal pay; instead, it demonstrates payment based on the sexual division of labor. This reflects a deficient approach regarding linking the meaning of the gender wage gap and its cause.

Another cause linked to the pay gap is the variation in wage premiums from one institution to another. Thus, it is argued that if women prefer working at firms that offer relatively lower premiums for similar jobs, then the gender wage gap shall persist (Card, Cardoso, & Kline, 2015). This is based on the findings that most of the female employees are likely to receive up to 90% of the wage premiums offered to their male counterparts from equivalent firms. However, an account of the wage gap dues to varying wage premiums in different firms do not depict similar circumstances for comparison to arrive at a situation reflecting the gender pay gap. Therefore, this study, while accounting for the pay gap focuses on similar circumstances such as the wage premiums in a single firm, and how such varies between men and women discharging equal tasks in that firm.

Other factors that explain the current gender wage gap includes distinctions in characteristics of human capital, personal attributes and labor supply (Hadas & Semyonov, 2014). Beyond these factors, despite a quantitative approach, Hadas and Semyonov found that a significant portion of the gap remains unexplained (2014). A greater portion of the unexplained causes derives from economic discrimination and other unmeasurable factors. However, this research shall focus on a qualitative evaluation of the unmeasured factors and a critical analysis of economic discrimination to account for the unexplained portion of the gap.

Theories accounting for the Gender Pay Gap

Social comparison theories form the bulk of the theoretical foundation of the gender wage gap (Auspurg, Hinz, & Sauer, 2017). For instance, due to gender segregation in the society's opportunity structure, more women anticipate lower pay than compared to men. According to the reward expectations theory suggests that there is a common social belief about the allocation of rewards among different members of the society depending on their groups (Auspurg, Hinz, & Sauer, 2017). Thus, the theory accounts for the relationship between performance and pay citing that when a valued reward is distributed unequally, then it is implied that its distribution is proportional to the variation of performance. Hence as regards the gender pay gap, society assumes that the reception of lower wages by women implies relatively lower performance in similar jobs as their male counterparts. This assumption also forms the premise of this study as the force behind the push for reforms against such misguided beliefs.

The gender pay gap is explained by fundamental principles that guide organizations and families that point towards the gendered division of labor. As regards labor-related theories, there is a dilemma whether to account for the pay gap on a human economics perspective or based on the human capital theory (Blau F. D., 2016). Due to variation in the level of skills among men and women, besides other factors such as nature of the occupation, location of industry and firm, the gender wage gap is explained by the established labor market prices (Blau F. D., 2017). However, since this study adopts a qualitative approach, the study shall be based on personnel economics rather than the human capital theory, as the theoretical foundation of the gender pay gap in the United States.

Mitigation and Measures to Diminish the Gap

The campaign towards mitigation of discrimination of pay appears to be helpless as this industrial segregation is in the hands of employers (Card, Cardoso, & Kline, 2015). For instance, Armani blames the lack of progress on employers because they vary job recruitment policies based on socially constructed gender roles, hence, the industrial and occupational segregation (2013). Even so, she admits that the wage gap revolves around the violation of the right of equality that should inherently accrue to every person by being human (Armani, 2013). Further, she takes notice of current policies that don't outlaw motherhood penalty attributable to maternity leaves. Thus, she fails to invoke legislative measures as the most effective remedy for the gender wage gap rather than encouraging change in job recruitment policies that don't bind employees to any legal obligations. Thus, this paper exploits the need for marriage and maternal leave laws that favor married women by cementing their job security once they re-enter the job market.

Authors have also recorded findings that depict the mitigation in the gender pay gap due to the decline in segregation (Violettal, 2011). However, no accurate inferences have been made to link decline in segregation to be an absolute guarantee for the reduction of the wage gap. Further, there has been more progress in reducing the gender pay gap due to a reduction in the unexplained portion of the gap (Hadas & Semyonov, 2014). Due to the essence of the unexplained portion of the gap, it would be effective to reveal the factors accounting on the unexplained portion and adopt mitigation strategies based on those factors. Thus, the exploration of the unexplained portion of the gap also forms the focal point of this study.

A Virtue or a Vice: The Morality Test

While considering the question of whether or not the wage gap is fair, what underlies the morality test is equal work for equal pay. However, findings reveal working duration is the most prevalent factor that explains the gap (Hadas & Semyonov, 2014). Various measures have therefore been taken to reduce the wage penalty imposed on women on maternal leave. This is balanced by the many unpaid works that they are subject to most of the unpaid household work that they are privy to. Even so, this paper evaluates the fairness of the gender gap, as a matter of working hours, on the premise that it is only fair to receive payment proportional to the duration one puts in the work force considering that the unpaid household work is not necessarily done at the expense of their male counterparts.

The Future of Gender-Pay Gap

Many empirical pieces of evidence reflect a decline in the gender pay gap with time. Therefore, the current trend is that the U.S. is moving toward a future of greater gender equality (Hadas & Semyonov, 2014). However, despite initial progress, the public sector has been stagnant as regards reduction of the gender pay gap as compared to the private sector. Hadas and Semyonov opine that greater competitive forces in the economy will force enterprises in the private sector to eliminate gender segregation, hence, the pay discrimination (2014). Besides competition being the critical drive behind the reduction of the pay gap in the private sector, this study focuses on other factors that will change the future of the progress of the pay gap in the public sector such as policy-making measures.

Despite positive progress in the reduction of the gender pay gap in the last decade, studies find that the progress towards gender equality may have reached a bottleneck (Hadas & Semyonov, 2014). Since various measures have been taken to eliminate the known factors contributing to the gap, current progress has been sluggish due to the dynamics of the unexplained gap. The following research focuses on the dynamics that vary the unexplained gap to develop an accurate projection of the future of gender equality.

References

Armani, Sareen. 2013. "The Gender Wage Gap in the United States: Current Policy and an Improved Approach for Closing the Gap." Inquiries Journal, 5(06).

Auspurg, Katrin, Thomas Hinz, and Carsten Sauer. 2017. "Why should women get less? Evidence on the gender pay gap from multifactorial survey experiments." American Sociological Review, 82(1), 179-210.

Blau, Francine D. 2016."Gender, inequality, and wages." OUP Catalogue.

Blau, Francine D., and Lawrence M. Kahn. 2017." The gender wage gap: Extent, trends, and explanations." Journal of Economic Literature, 55(3), 789-865.

Card, David, Ana Rute Cardoso, and Patrick Kline. 2015. "Bargaining, sorting, and the gender wage gap: Quantifying the impact of firms on the relative pay of women." The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(2), 633-686.

Joshi, Aparna, Jooyeon Son, and Hyuntak Roh. 2015. "When Can Women Close the Gap? A Meta-Analytic Test of Sex Differences in Performance and Rewards." Academy of Management Journal 58(5): 1516-45.

Khoreva, Violetta 2011. "Gender pay gap and its perceptions." Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal, 30(3), 233-248.

Lips, Hilary M. 2013. "The gender pay gap: Challenging the rationalizations. Perceived equity, discrimination, and the limits of human capital models." Sex Roles, 68(3-4), 169-185.

Mandel, Hadas, and Moshe Semyonov 2014. "Gender pay gap and employment sector: Sources of earnings disparities in the United States, 1970-2010." Demography, 51(5), 1597-1618.

Mishel, Lawrence R. 2013. The State of Working America. Ithaca: ILR Press.