One
aspect of gender inequality that affects many women in the United States, and
one that I am offended by, is the gender pay gap. As the name might suggest,
the gender pay gap is the difference in salary earnings between males and
females and is usually expressed as to what percentage women’s salaries compare
to men’s. In all states, this percentage is never 100%. Generally, men receive
higher pay than their women coworkers, even if they hold the same job title or
have the same job responsibilities. While logic and equality both strongly
oppose this difference in salaries amongst genders, the gender pay gap has yet
to disappear.
The
picture above shows a man and woman receiving their “salary” for pay day.
Obviously the man receives his well-earned dollar while the woman gets mere
change. On average, women get 77 cents to every dollar a man earns. One of the reasons for this pay gap is women’s
jobs are often undervalued. Women and men are segregated into different
occupations depending on their gender and even when their job descriptions are very similar, men receive better pay. For example, a woman house
cleaner would make less than a man who picks up garbage. Even when
both genders share the same job title, such as doctor or lawyer, it is not
unusual for men to receive more pay than women. The pay gap could also be caused by the expectation of women to spend a significant amount of time away from
their jobs due to maternity leave or other family issues, which negatively
affects their earnings and their ability to climb to higher job positions in their company. Sadly, in this male dominated world, sometimes
this pay gap is simply due to discrimination.
More
light needs to be shed on this issue because, to put it simply, it's unfair.
Not receiving the same wage as a man simply because you’re a women is
discriminating and sexist towards the female gender, and what makes it worse is
there is no logical explanation for this pay gap. Why would people not want men
and women to have equal pay? Why would people oppose equality? My fingers are
crossed that this inequality will be amended in the future.
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