Wage Gap Between Men and Women - Essay Sample

Introduction

In recent months, the wage gap that exists between men and women has been a consistent staple of agenda in most of the newsrooms. Many are the times that people have campaigned against this issue, where women have always advocated for equal pay with equal work done. The societal perception of the fact that men are different from women has persisted for centuries, and sadly, it does not seem to change in the minds of other people who have held on to this perception.

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In the same way, when it comes to wages, many companies are defined by their values. They pay their workers according to their laid down rules. Most companies have come up with published data, which attempts to bring out a contextual fact on this issue. Under some circumstances, some companies have tried to brush off this issue, insinuating that the gap is not too much of a big deal as compared to the problems about the fact of life. However, studies have indicated that there are four distinct reasons why this issue has persisted for a long time now. The following paragraphs will explore these reasons, which include; more men hold senior roles than women, the responsibilities of caring, and roles of part-time jobs are unequally shared, women prefer working in low-paid sectors and roles, men receive all the credit, gendered language recruitment, and gender conditioning.

More Men Hold Senior Roles Than Women

The fact that is obvious is that more men hold senior positions in workplaces than women. It is automatic that senior people in any workplace get more pay than their subordinates, who are the junior people. This fact, therefore, hurts the wage gap and brings out the reality that the difference in payment between men and women is distinct. However, this disparity does not mean that the issue cannot is out of hand (Dosani, 2018). At the center of this issue is the ideology that senior jobs automatically need constant availability and long hours, and therefore, they are not flexible and are not on a part-time basis. This assumption relates to the pattern, which existed in the 1950s, where men went out to work, but women stayed at home to support them. Therefore, men would focus on work at the expense of any other aspect of their lives (Kimmel, Aronson, & Kaler, 2008). Moreover, this ideology has been exacerbated in most sectors by globalization, and technology has also looked into the matter. The extension of working day to either ten or twelve hours is because of this fact.

For sure, employers who are accustomed to the culture of long hours for senior positions have high chances of being the worst offenders. Besides, long hours are inherently gendered and exacerbate the gap that exists in gender pay (Dosani, 2018). Studies have also indicated that women who are highly educated and hold senior positions in the company also experience the difference in wages, with their male counterparts. This gender wage difference has been persistent for the last 25 years or so.

The Responsibilities of Caring and Roles of Part-Time Jobs Are Unequally Shared

Women prefer the responsibility of caring for their children and spending most of their times taking care of the affairs in their homes. Therefore, this argument brings out the point that as women prefer to spend the most time with their children, they still have to work and make an income. Thus, most of them opt to take up part-time jobs (Kimmel, Aronson, & Kaler, 2008). Additionally, they land for jobs that have fewer opportunities for progression and are below the level of their skills. After childbirth, the wage gap increases significantly. By the time the first child is twenty years, the hourly wages of women are approximately a third below that of men. Studies have also estimated that the gender differences in the rates of both the full-time and part-time paid work are attributed to over a half of the gap, particularly among the people with high levels of education (Dosani, 2018). However, this argument is also because of the same assumption as the first reason. Thus, part-time jobs are automatically less senior and down-graded.

Moreover, associating women with their choice of part-time work suggests that women are accountable for the lower earnings that they get (Kimmel, Aronson, & Kaler, 2008).

On the other hand, it relieves the employers the pressure of doing anything about the whole issue. As much as societal expectations exist in this argument, it is obvious that men are reluctant to ask for part-time jobs, even if they would wish for the same. In some countries, where the initiatives of the government have tackled the expectations of the gender role actively, change is much faster.

Women Prefer Working in Low-Paid Sectors and Roles

Another act is that many occupations which have poor are the ones that were traditionally carried out by women since they needed skills that people perceived as feminine. These skills included caring skills and people skills. Thus, women choose professions like shop assistants, nursing, or teaching, while on the other hand, men choose professions like engineers, construction workers, or surgeons (Kimmel, Aronson, & Kaler, 2008). The bone of contention in this argument is that people tend to undervalue the traditional female skills, and this will take a while before it changes. On the other hand, there is a perception of wisdom, which is to the fact that women choose occupations that are lowly paid since they provide more flexibility and are more family-friendly. The perception that women make it a choice to give their children and family the priority again prevails in this argument (Atwood, 2017). Gender wage gap cannot relate to a lack of viable alternatives since at some point, women make these decisions by the options that they opt to take. As it is, men and women cannot get the same pay when one works part-time and the other works full time (Dosani, 2018). It is obvious that the one who works full-time will get higher pay than the one who works part-time. In this case, men are at an advantage of getting the higher pay, and this places the gender wage gap as the fact that life has to bear thus releasing the employers from the responsibility of changing this fact about life.

Men Receive All the Credit

Get a group of women who work together in the same institution - allow them to reflect and share on the experiences that they encounter in their workplace. Eventually, a consensus will come. The achievement of men is perceived subjectively as having a greater value than that of women. Not only at work but in any social environment (Atwood, 2017)It is obvious where two employees collaboratively take up equal work; the man will unfairly receive all the credit for any success or achievement in the work done. This fact conforms to the clever little confirmation of the patriarchy that is biased in controlling everything people do (Dosani, 2018). Men are the best since people, and the society at large view them as the best, they are awarded for the best and therefore allowing them to be always the best (Kimmel, Aronson, & Kaler, 2008). This ideology has been a perception that has been in existence for so long and has consistently persisted. Unfortunately, it has gotten to the work environment, and most organizations have, thus creating the gender wage gap.

Gendered Language Recruitment

The recruitment language in workplaces is unconsciously gendered in such a way that it inadvertently discriminates against women. Research in Canada by The Economist compared the reaction to advertisements for the same vacancy, which incorporated stereotypically masculine words like competitive, leaders, and so on. Other advertisements used feminine words like understanding, interpersonal and support (Atwood, 2017). Women perceived masculine jobs as less appealing, and the reason was not related to the idea that they would not meet the expectations of the job description. They assumed that the words deduced a signal of a workplace that would be male-dominated, and they would feel out of place.

Gender Conditioning

It is unfortunate that the environment in which girls are conditioned drives them away from the world of STEM subjects that pay well. Children develop a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths, when they are encouraged to play with construction toys like Lego, counting games, shapes, and puzzles. Sadly, girls are not encouraged to play with these things when they are young. For instance, if a little girl is taken to a toy shop and asked to choose a toy, they are likely to go for cooking toys, dolls, and other soft toys, which do not engage their minds. When people see others working with coding, with robots, in space, and laboratories, they want to do it. Unfortunately, a bigger percentage, if not all, of the people who do these jobs are men (Kimmel, Aronson, & Kaler, 2008). Thus, the gap in the tech industry attributes to bad stereotypes on how men are inherently better than women, for instance, in matters about coding. This perception influences the gender that will be put up for promotion, and the one that will get credit for group projects at the expense of the other gender. Fundamentally, the society has designed an objective and neutral environment for practicing science, but in a real sense, there are words, which conceal the fact that the society has created an extremely toxic environment, in which only men thrive. Thus, the gender wage gap still prevails in society.

Conclusion

It is evident that many factors explain the reason for the gender wage gap. Some are automatic and relate to the societal expectation while others are by choice. Whichever the case, these factors do not seem to end any time soon, as much as many countries are trying to fight them. However, the question of gender wage difference should get the attention that it deserves.

Works Cited

Atwood, M. (2017). Margaret Atwood on What 'The Handmaid's Tale'Means in the Age of Trump. The New York Times, 10. Retrieved from https://www.spps.org/cms/lib/MN01910242/Centricity/Domain/842/Margaret%20Atwood%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf

Dosani, S. ( 2018, July 1). The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: a gothic story of postnatal psychosis-psychiatry in literature. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 213, 1, 411. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2018.63

Kimmel, M. S., Aronson, A., & Kaler, A. (Eds.). (2008). The gendered society reader. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://www.semesteratsea.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Meenan_SOC_333_Gender_and_SocietySYL.pdf