Argumentative Essay On Gender Pay Gap in Covid-19

As we enter 2022, it is clearly evident that there is a large gender gap in economics. There are many inexplicable factors that cause a gender gap in economics that allow. This essay will be solely focused on three main subtopics: gender wage gap, women being underrepresented in leadership positions within organizations, and the gender inequality during COVID-19. I chose these three topics because I believe these are very intriguing and east to understand topics regarding the gender gap. As we focus on these three topics, we will be diving deeper on the cause and effect of these topics to truly understand the reasoning and background of why there is a gender gap in economics. The main question that will be answered throughout this paper is “Why is there a gender gap in economics and what are the causes of the gender gap?”

The gender wage gap is the difference between the income earned for men and women. It is calculated by dividing women's average wage by men’s average wage and then subtracting that result from 1. According to investopedia.com, this issue dates back to the beginning of civilization, it was in 1860 when this was seen as a political issue and rallies began fighting for “Equal Pay for Equal Work”. Although the average gender gap has been decreasing in the past several years, it is still a major problem in today’s time. Referencing the graph below of the gender wage gap in Ontario from 1998-2020 from payequity.gov.on.ca, we can see how much less women earn compared to men in percentage terms. In 1998, women earned 39% less than men in regards to average annual earnings, that number decreased to 29% in 2020. Using average hourly wages, a survey from the “Statistics Canada data from the Labour Force Survey” disclosed that female employees in Ontario earned $0.89 for every dollar earned by men in 2020, this means that the gender wage gap in terms of average hourly wages was 11%. There are many reasons as to why the gender wage gap exists in society, this is dependent on many different factors such as needing to leave the workforce due to family care-giving responsibilities, occupational segregation, differences in education levels, being underrepresented in leadership positions, encountering discrimination in the workforce, etc. Statistics Canada’s research states that 30% of the gender wage gap in Ontario is due to education, job tenure, full-time vs part-time, public vs private sector, firm size, unionization rates, occupation, industry, and demographics; while the other 70% of the wage gap is unexplained. Gender wage gap is one of the root causes of gendered poverty, it is one of the most severe problems regarding this topic that needs to be ended immediately. Over a lifetime of earning less than men for the same work, women are disproportionatelycretiringcintocfinancialcinsufficiencycandcevencpoverty. The gender wage gap is the result of many factors that result in different groups of women experiencing different gaps in pay, this gap is a complex issue that requires vigorous and inclusive solutions.  

Women have been underrepresented within organizations for far too long. Women make up just over 50% of the Canadian population yet they continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions, specifically in political and professional leadership positions where majority of the workers are men. Women are underrepresented in all types of leadership, Women comprise 19.5% of the board members for Canada’s top 500 companies, only 8.5% of the highest-paid positions in Canada’s top 100 listed companies are held by women. There are many arguments that state men hold leadership roles due to their qualifications, but women are just as qualified as men in terms of education and experience yet they are still overlooked. According to 2015 statistics, 35% of Canadian women had a university certificate or degree, while only 30% of males had the same qualifications. There are many factors as to why women are underrepresented in leadership positions such as gender stereotypes, biases, hostile work environments, sexual harassment, etc. Women of colour face even further obstacles in terms of advancement which makes them less likely to move up into leadership roles. The glass ceiling metaphor is a perfect example of women being unable to move up in leadership positions. It is a metaphor that represents an invisible barrier that typically women face from rising beyond a certain level in organizations, in more detail; it refers to the fact that a qualified person wishing to advance in their career, are stopped at a lower level due to discrimination whether it is race, sex, sexuality, etc. Over the past decade, scientific studies have shown that most of the personality traits that make a leader effective, are possessed more by women than men, examples of this include self-control, moral sensitivity, social skills, emotional mindfulness, etc. Men are given these jobs due to them being seen as more “masculine” which is a very discriminating factor in male/female leadership representation that potentially decreases women’s willpower and motivation to succeed at a higher level. Another reason that suggests why the gap is so pervasive is the difference in growth opportunities that are given to both men and women in the workplace. A research done by Harvard Business School suggests that women are given informal professional development opportunities when compared to men.

COVID-19 has been a horrendous economic collapse for the whole world. It has affected lives and livelihoods all over the world. Since the pandemic started, we can see that the pandemic’s economic fallout has had a regressive effect on gender equality. According to Mckinsey.com, women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to this crisis compared to men’s jobs. Women around the world are responsible for 39% of global employment but account for 54% of the overall loss of jobs. This is due to the virus increasing the burden of unpaid care which is more known as a “woman’s job”. This allowed for women’s employment to drop faster than average. Women’s jobs and livelihoods are more vulnerable to COVID-19 related economic effects because of existing gender inequalities, this is proven using data and trends from unemployment surveys in the US and India. It is estimated that female job loss rates because of COVID-19 are 1.8 times higher than the job loss rate for males, globally this rate is at 5.7%  for women and 3.1% forcmales.Looking at this graph above from statcan.gc.ca, it is evident that COVID-19 had a prominent effect on monthly employment. We can see that from March 2019 to February 2020; the employment for both males and females was fairly steady and the same. Looking at March 2020 (when the pandemic struck) to February 2021, we see very different results. Both males and females suffered a great decrease in employment from March 2020 to April 2020. In June 2020 it is clear that males and females started gaining employment again but the gap for females is a bit larger compared to males when looking at the final month in February 2021. Mothers were three times more likely compared to fathers to report that they were the ones who had to pick up the majority/all of the unpaid care and work related to their children;s school and childcare facility closures, this was most seen in mothers of children under the age of 12. COVID-19 has also widened the gap on women saving for retirement. An investment company in America revealed that only 19% of women are confident that they are on track to retire without running out of funds, compared to 35% for men, this concludes that only one in three women were saving for retirement. In 2013 the difference on each gender’s confidence level of whether they will have enough money saved for retirement was only 9%, in March of 2022 that number has increased to 16%.

In conclusion, it is more evident than ever that there is a serious gender gap in economics even in 2022. After looking at the gender wage gap, how women are underrepresented in leadership positions, and the recent gender inequality due to COVID-19, there are many reasons and examples proving that the gender gap is still very large. Looking at examples such as the glass ceiling, the unemployment gap during COVID-19, and how women are still earning less than men, it is clear that this is still an issue that needs to come to an end. Although there are many unexplained factors for the gender gap in economics, this issue is something we have to nitpick and look at one by one in order to truly see the whole picture. There have been many strides for this movement and the gap has definitely become smaller overtime, but that does not excuse the fact that there is still a gap, we are all human, regardless of our gender, it is unfair to be looked down upon, paid less and given more work just because you were born female, it is not something that can be controlled and women all over the world are facing this discrimination every single day.