We may live in a modern world, but gender equity is still overlooked
The gender wage gap has proved that women make less than men. Specifically, the pay gap is the "difference in men's and women's median earnings" and is can be represented through earning ratios and the pay gap itself. The earning ratio is calculated by dividing the Women's Median Earnings by Men's Median Earnings where as the pay gap is calculated by taking the difference between the Men's and Women's median earnings and then dividing it by the men's Median earnings. What have these results shown? Keep reading to find out!
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In 2017 alone, the earnings ratio was 80.499% and the pay gap was approximately 20%. That means that on average, women make 20% less than men. Furthermore, according to the U.S. Bureau, in 2017, the median weekly earning's pay gap was 18%. On a state level, The American Community Servey found that the pay gap was the lowest in California where women were paid 89% of mens' earnings and highest in Louisiana where women were paid 69%. Regardless, in both these states, gender equality was and is still not reached and women are still NOT paid 100% of what they have earned. If this continues, women are not expected to reach pay equity until 2106.
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The main reasons fostering the Wage Gap include the motherhood penalty, racial biases on women's careers and the impact of occupational segregation. The motherhood penalty is the concept that employers are less likely to hire mothers than women who do not have children. Even when mothers are hired, employers often offer them lower salaries than they do to other women. However, men on the otherhand, do not suffer from this. Instead, they even receive the "Fatherhood bonus" and earn more after having children. Occuptional Segregation refers to the women being forced into occupations with lower pay simply based on one's opinion of "women's work" and "female fields." Even women who work in male-dominated fields (such as Computer Science), they still face a wage gap in their salaries.
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These factors play a huge role in the pay gap between women and what a typical white man earns. Each woman has her own background and story, but her pay gap can depend directly on her race, ethicity, age, disability etc. For 2017, the Current Population Survey (CPS) found that Hispanic or Latina women made only 53% of what men made. Asian women had the smallest wage gap with being paid a high of 85% of what the common white man made. Age contributes just as significantly; women between the ages of 20-24 were paid 90% of what men were paid but women aged from 55-64% were paid 74% as much as men.
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The Gender Wage Gap hinders womens' abilities to prosper in their fields and instead ties them down. It is known to contribute to poverty with 13% of American women living in poverty compared to the 9% of men in poverty. The wage gap creates problems for women during their time in the workforce and even after they have left. Because of the wage discrimination, women are often paid less income, social security income, and receive less life insurance benefits than men do. Not only does the wage gap affect women, but their entire family too. In a study conducted, 42% of women were the sole or primary earners for their family.
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