College students, no matter what gender, race, or ethnicity they identify as, have a common goal. We all take a wide array of classes with the hopes of developing a passion, one that will eventually lead to a career path. By spending long hours studying in the library and consistently putting ourselves out there, we work like dogs with the hope of becoming something meaningful one day. Some of us wish to be doctors, working to heal the world one medical advancement at a time. Others want to go into business and finance. Nowadays psychology is a common career to pursue, and with current day social media, the profession of communications is always rising. Men have a natural advantage over equally qualified women in the workforce. The wage gap between males and females is a prominent issue in modern day society. The difference in salaries has no reason to exist, however, we see it across different occupations and even within the same job description. With this in mind I ask: Why are women being mistreated in the work force?
Gender: A Factor That Determines the Jobs We Pursue.
For one reason or another, generally men pursue higher-paying career paths then women. Many of these jobs have similar skill sets, with different titles. The article As Women Take Over A Dominant Field The Pay Drops says, “The median earnings of information technology managers (mostly men) are 27 percent higher than human resources managers (mostly women), according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. At the other end of the wage spectrum, janitors (usually men) earn 22 percent more than maids and housecleaners (usually women).” This shows that people's salaries depend on the type of careers they pursue, and over time we see more males getting hired for white collar jobs and females for blue collar jobs. The article explains that of the 30 highest-paying jobs, including chief executive, architect and computer engineer, 26 of them are generally male-dominated, and of the 30 lowest-paying ones, including food server, housekeeper and child-care worker, 23 are usually female dominated. These separate career paths attempt to describe the difference in wage gap, but with this statistic another question arises: Why do women practice lower paying jobs then men?
When Males Leave a Job, The Salary Leaves With Them.
Many times career paths that had previously been predominantly male switched to female professions. There should be no difference in salaries due to this shift, as they complete the same tasks and execute the same skills. However, we see that gender differences lead to a decline in wages. This is shown in the field of recreation, which switched over from male to female between 1950-2000. After this career became a majority female job, the wage dropped 57%. This disturbing phenomenon is also shown through ticket agents. Here, after converting to a predominantly female job the wages dropped 43 percent. There is no difference in skills, execution, and performance between the employers at both times, so why are women being payed such a significant amount less?
Society is Stuck in the Past.
Nowadays the world is a completely different place. Modernity has changed employment rate, however, there was once a time where it was not a women’s obligation to have a job. It was a males duty to bring home a paycheck to support his family. However, a large flood tide of women entered the work force after the World War 2 Era. Steadily, the rate of women working increased. Some men had/still have a hard time grasping the idea that women have jobs, and therefore women’s work is still thought of as “not as important.” Some people have an ancient outlook when it comes to who should be employed, and many think a women's main job is to be a housewife. Therefore, they cannot fathom the fact that women are just as capable of succeeding in the workforce as men.
Why Am I Paid Less Than My Male Counterparts?
Here is an unfortunate fact: people truly believe women don’t deserve to get paid the same rate as their male colleagues. According to the previous article “It may come down to this troubling reality, new research suggests: Work done by women simply isn’t valued as highly.” However, the article goes on to explain how that phenomenon is a false misconception. It says how women are better educated than men, have nearly as much experience in the work force and are just as likely to pursue successful careers as their male peers. I can confidently say that women never appreciate being told they're less important than males. Gender roles are a sexist and offensive mindset that have been implanted into cultural norms, and goes far beyond who cleans the kitchen at night. There is a bias, one that constantly targets women in the workforce. It affects the paycheck they take home, and its not going away. Now that you're aware of this issue I ask a concluding question: How can we ban together and stop these wage gaps across America?
