Danielle Roof
Gender Inequality in Pay
Siena Heights University
MGT 360--Human Resource Management
Dr. Ball; Winter, 2015
Human Resource Management, like any other aspect of a business, has issues that can arise at any time. One common issue that has been around, and probably will be for a while, is the issue of inequality in pay between genders. In the past, women stayed in the home and were responsible for the cooking, cleaning, and raising the children. Well, things have changed over the years and not only are women into the workforce now, but they are doing the same jobs as men. If women and men are able to do the same jobs now, why is there pay not reflecting of that?
Since the beginning of time, women have fought to have the same rights as men. For years, women fought to have the right to vote in elections. They were also supposed to be the head of the home and that was it. There was no going out and doing whatever they wanted like it is today. Since things have change, women being able to vote, and being an active member of today’s working society, it is time that the gap in pay changes as well. The image below shows the pay gap between men and women in the different states.
The photo above shows that on average, women only make about 75 cents for every dollar that a man makes. That pay gap is from the year 2013, however that gap in pay has held steady years before this photo was created, and is predicted to continue to stay this way for years to come (Casserly, M.,2013).
Women tend to be stereotyped in the fact that a man is needed to take care of a woman, however, if women were treated equally, specifically in the pay scale, and then there would be no difference between a man and a woman in the aspect of who needs to take care of whom. An article posted on the website, the guardian, had a great quote in regards to women and the comfort level of their savings. “No wonder only 41% of women reported feeling “satisfied” with their savings (compared to 58% of the men): it’s harder to even start saving when you start off with a heck of a lot less money.” (McGee, S., 2014)
I think that the most obvious solution to the problem of inequality between genders is for employers to just stop doing it. Thing are not like there were in the past, where women were expected to sit at home and take care of the house and children while the man was at work. Now, it is very common for both the man and woman of the house to be a part of the workforce.
While this solution if obvious, changes have not been done since women have entered the workplace and unless laws are put into place, nothing is going to be changed. There is nothing stating now that there cannot be a gap in pay just because of someone’s gender yet there is this ongoing issue anyway. Not only will women benefit from policies like this being put into place but also, many of the families across the United States would benefit simply due to the fact that if women made more money, they may be able to survive as a single parent and not have to put their family on state assistance just to make ends meet. There is such a long chain of reactions that could occur just by creating equal pay for men and women
*Photo curtesy of Fores.com