Gender Income Gap
Gender Income Gap
Diane Smith
ENG 122 English Composition II
Instructor Stephanie Derisi
August 30, 2014
Gender Income Gap In American society today there is an imbalance in the gender income gap between men and women in the work force. Many factors such as discrimination, productivity, educational background and disproportional hours worked contribute to this ongoing challenge. While many are skeptical, others remain to have strong beliefs that women and men are treated equally. In most professions according to Glynn “women only earn seventy seven cents for every dollar earned by men” (2014). Although, the seventy seven cents figure does not accurately reflect gender discrimination, it does capture some discrimination, as it reflects differences in jobs, hours worked, years of experience, educational attainment and personal choices individual’s makes about their careers. Additionally, poverty rates in the United States continuously show that women are lagging behind men, therefore, Hayes suggests “without improved pay equality, women at all levels are being adversely impacted” (2012). In past decades the gender income gap has narrowed, nonetheless, to close the gap, the factors must be fully understood as well as all available solutions explored. The research contained within this paper will focus on the underlying issues, evidence and the causes and effects of the gender income gap, concluding with possible solutions to eliminating the gap. While gender inequality has been around for decades, there are many underlying issues that exist today, one of which is discrimination. In 2000, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that women averaged only 80% of what men earned (Lasowski, 2008). The Labor’s Offices of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) performs evaluations of federal contractors to identify if there is a systemic issue relating to discrimination. However, these evaluations are limited since the OFCCP uses
Diane Smith
ENG 122 English Composition II
Instructor Stephanie Derisi
August 30, 2014
Gender Income Gap In American society today there is an imbalance in the gender income gap between men and women in the work force. Many factors such as discrimination, productivity, educational background and disproportional hours worked contribute to this ongoing challenge. While many are skeptical, others remain to have strong beliefs that women and men are treated equally. In most professions according to Glynn “women only earn seventy seven cents for every dollar earned by men” (2014). Although, the seventy seven cents figure does not accurately reflect gender discrimination, it does capture some discrimination, as it reflects differences in jobs, hours worked, years of experience, educational attainment and personal choices individual’s makes about their careers. Additionally, poverty rates in the United States continuously show that women are lagging behind men, therefore, Hayes suggests “without improved pay equality, women at all levels are being adversely impacted” (2012). In past decades the gender income gap has narrowed, nonetheless, to close the gap, the factors must be fully understood as well as all available solutions explored. The research contained within this paper will focus on the underlying issues, evidence and the causes and effects of the gender income gap, concluding with possible solutions to eliminating the gap. While gender inequality has been around for decades, there are many underlying issues that exist today, one of which is discrimination. In 2000, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that women averaged only 80% of what men earned (Lasowski, 2008). The Labor’s Offices of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) performs evaluations of federal contractors to identify if there is a systemic issue relating to discrimination. However, these evaluations are limited since the OFCCP uses
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