Gender Differences: Pay Differences Between Men and Women

Why do men get paid more than women? This has been a question that has been a controversial issue since the Industrial Age. My paper will discuss some of the key points surrounding this controversial gender issue. I will discuss some of the key issues for the gender pay gap that still affects us today. From the beginning during the Industrial Age, to currently, and then some of the reasons affecting women's pay still today.

First of all, what are earnings defined as? According to the United States Census Bureau, "Earnings are the sum of wage and salary income and self employment income. Wages are sometimes distinguished from salaries by the time period that is the basis for payment. Wage earners are often hourly employees while salaried individuals are usually paid an annual salary." (Weinberg, Daniel. Evidence from 2000 about earnings by detailed Occupation for Men and Women, May 2004) Knowing about the distinction between wages and salaries will help us to better understand the gender pay gap differences.

Women around the world make tremendous contributions to the economy everyday. They work in a variety of occupations such as teachers, nurses, secretaries, doctors, and child care workers. According to an article from Women and the Economy, "Women's access to paid work is crucial to their efforts for economic equality and to their sense of self. But women's paid work is generally valued as less important than men's. Even today women still earn considerably less than men and often find themselves in low status jobs with few benefits." (Women and The Economy - Women and Paid Work" http://unpac.ca/economy/paidwork.htm)

During the Industrial Age, work was moved from the home to factories and office buildings. "Men went into the factories and offices and received payment for the services they provided; women stayed home and continued on the work of reproduction and care of home and community but received no pay." (Women and The Economy - Women and Paid Work") However, during this time period, women did start to enter the paid workforce and there pay was much less. "When women did start to enter the paid workforce their incomes were considered supplementary to their husbands or father's and their work was seen as an extension of their unpaid work at home." "Most women during this time period were paid less and some of their work went unpaid. The work they did was assigned a lesser monetary value than men's work. Today women's paid work remains chronically and systematically underpaid, and much of their work remains entirely unpaid." (Women and The Economy - Women and Paid Work")

Everyone does view gender pay differently and obviously form different perspectives. "Some people see pay as a measure of justice. A comparison of earnings of women with those of men highlights what many consider inequities in pay decisions. The gender pay in the United States, after adjustment for differences in education, experience, and occupation, narrowed from 36 percent in 1980 to 12 percent in 2003." (Milkovich, George, Milkovich, Carolyn, Newman, Jerry. Compensation. McGraw Hill Companies, 2005.) But this measure masks tremendous variations.

According to the book Compensation, "One of the most important factors in the pay gap is differences in jobs held by men and women. In the early 1970's, 53 percent of women workers were in administrative support and service occupations, compared to only 15 percent of men. Only one in five managers were women, professional women were frequently employed in traditionally female professions such as nurses, teachers, and librarian. However, evidence of increased levels of occupational attainment does not automatically mean that the wage gap will close." (Milkovich, George, Milkovich, Carolyn, Newman, Jerry. Compensation.)

Equal pay has been the law since 1963. However, over forty years later women are still being paid less than men that have the same education, skills, and experience that they do. According to an article by AFL-CIO, "In 2002, women were paid 79 cents for every dollar men received. That's $23 less to spend on groceries, housing, child care and other expenses for every $100 worth of work we do." Many women argue, "it's not like we get charged less for rent, food, or utilities and we pay more things like haircuts and dry cleaning." (AFL- CIO. "It's Time for Working Women to Earn Equal Pay." http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/women/equalpay/index.cfm."

However, according to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, pay differences between equal jobs can be justified by an affirmative defense. Differences in pay between men and women doing equal work are legal if these differences are based on any of four criteria: seniority, merit or quality of performance, quality or quantity of production, some factor other than sex. (Milkovich, George, Milkovich, Carolyn, Newman, Jerry. Compensation.)

Another view of the gender pay gap states that the gap is much larger than everyone reports it to be. According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, "Women in their prime earning years, make only 38 cents for every dollar that men earn. "The typical prime age working woman earned only $273,592 between 1983 and 1998 while the typical working man earned $722,693. This gap of 62 percent is more than twice as large as the 23 percent gap commonly reported." (Davis, Violette. "Still A Man's Labor Market: The Long Term Earnings Gap." Institute For Women's Policy Research, 2004.)

There are many reasons and studies on why the gender pay gap earnings gap differs. However, every study does indicate that women are definitely earning less than their male counterparts. "Some of the reasons for the continued gap in earnings are gender segregation in the labor market; sex discrimination in hiring, pay and promotion, differential access to education and training, and differences in hours worked between women and men." (Still A Man's Labor Market: The Long term Earnings GAP)

According to CNN / Money, "Women received less salary than their male counterparts partly because they generally work fewer hours than men, are likely to leave the labor force for longer periods and tend to hold jobs that pay less." Even after these key factors, "Women, on average make only 80 percent of what men earned." "It's compelling evidence that the glass ceiling remains a powerful obstacle to women in the workforce, and it suggests that things may be getting worse, not better." (Dingell, John "Why Women Are Paid Less." http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/20/news/economy/pay_gap)

Women also face many obstacles and barriers that keep them earning fewer wages than men. Some of these obstacles are child care, reduced access to training and education, and sexism. "One of the biggest obstacles that keep women away from the workforce is the absence of quality, affordable child care. Another obstacle is reduced access to training and education. The third obstacle is sexism which also includes racism and ablest." (Women and Paid Work")

Women in the work place are also affected by sexual harassment and sexual abuse. "Women in professional fields face sexist attitudes that prevent them from reaching upper level management positions. Sometimes this is called hitting the glass ceiling - an invisible yet very real barrier that prevents women from advancing past a certain level of pay and responsibility. Some women are unable to accept the positions they'd like to hold because of responsibilities at home. For many women the choice between career and family is a difficult one." (Women and Paid Work)

This paper taught me many things about the issues that are involved in the pay differences between men and women. I didn't even realize that there were pay issues that went as far back as the Industrial Age. However, women are still receiving less pay for the same type of work as their male counterparts. I believe that gender pay differences will continue to be a problem as long as women continue to face obstacles and barriers of being a mother and a full time professional at the same time.

Works Cited

AFL- CIO. "It's Time for Working Women to Earn Equal Pay."

http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/women/equalpay/index.cfm."

Davis, Violette. "Still A Man's Labor Market: The Long Term Earnings Gap." Institute

For Women's Policy Research, 2004.

Dingell, John "Why Women Are Paid Less."

http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/20/news/economy/pay_gap

Milkovich, George, Milkovich, Carolyn, Newman, Jerry. Compensation. McGraw Hill

Companies, 2005.

Weinberg, Daniel. Evidence from 2000 about earnings by detailed Occupation for Men

and Women, May 2004.

Women and The Economy - Women and Paid Work"

http://unpac.ca/economy/paidwork.htm)