The “Gap” Separating Women and Men Essay Example

Throughout the world, there is an on-going debate on a topic known as the Gender Pay Gap. This idea that although through law in modern developed societies, women and men are considered equal, is not represented through earned wages. Numerous credible research groups have proved that there is an innate difference in the wages received in women and men. The argument, though, lies in many different aspects or areas. There isn’t a blatant “one-side” or the other “side” argument which plagues many political debates. There is a spectrum of where people lie, that ranges as far as people who bluntly disregard the whole idea of the pay gap existing, and those who work to fix and comfort those affected by this phenomenon. On a moral and ethical level, a woman receiving wages that differ from a male counterpart simply because of their gender is wrong, plain and simple. As a modern society, we understand how wrong this is and now look to amend our past of sexism. We have made many great strides in creating equality for all, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin and more recent iterations such as Title IX that focus specifically on sex-based discrimination. With people such as Megan Rapinoe, a renowned soccer player, creating a “call-to-action” on what they consider “sex-based” discrimination in the gender pay gap and equality for all. People like Rapinoe believe that the difference in pay between women and men has had and will continue to have a significant negative effect on women in the world if change is not imminent. 

Jessamyn Schaller, Ph.D. recently published a report through the American Association of University Women that details the “persistent pay gap between men and women” which “continues to hurt our nation’s workers and our national economy.” (Schaller, 1) This reports details systemic racism, race and gender disparities, geographical locations and industry disparities. Schaller herself is a well-known and well-studied individual. She is an Associate Professor of Economics in the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance at Claremont McKenna College, where she currently works. She has published many papers and studies that show the effects of aggregate economic conditions and parent employment on the health and wellness of children. As someone who is educated and experienced, she can be considered trustworthy and credible. To calculate the disparity between men and women’s pay, one of the methods used was median salaries. They took the median salary of a woman divided by the median salary of a man. This is an accurate way to show this disparity because the median value gives a good estimate on how each gender is doing financially. This resulted in an unsettling result: In 2019 women took home 82.3 cents for every dollar paid to a man. This is actually less compared to the year following when in 2020, women took home 83 cents for a man’s dollar. This data is not like any normal year, though, since 2020 was the start of a global pandemic from the Coronavirus known as COVID-19. This pandemic revealed many different areas of our society that previously hadn’t been known, such as supply chain issues, but the main issue detail in the study states: “Because caregiving responsibilities still fall disproportionately to mothers, women are more likely to take time out of the workforce, scale back their hours or postpone advancement opportunities. This

has been especially true during the pandemic. Leaving the labor force to do unpaid care work limits women’s advancement and corresponding pay increases, contributing to the gender pay gap.” (Schaller, 6). This makes logical sense and is an argument that those who oppose the pay gap do not tend to be knowledgeable about. This results in lower lifetime earnings, which can be detrimental. 

When members of a certain demographic are discriminated against, this undoubtedly leads to unrest. This unrest leads for leaders to voice out their call to action, and this is where people such as Megan Rapinoe step in. Rapinoe has herself been faced with oppression and sexism throughout her whole life. In an interview with the National Public Radio, or NPR, Rapinoe details her experiences with the women’s United States Soccer Team. NPR is a non-biased news reporting station. Rapinoe details that: “The amount of money that we could possibly earn in our contract compared to the amount of money that the men could possibly earn in the contract is very different. I think a lot of - a lot is made about the guaranteed money in our contract and the different compensation structures that we have. But when you look at the possibility of money for each team, ours is vastly, vastly lower than the men.” (Gross 3). Here, Rapinoe says that the men’s counterpart, although from another professional team and of equal skill, get paid and can get paid less than them. An educated individual might ask, shouldn’t pay be based on skill and talent rather than gender? 

Aside from social differences, women and men are also different biologically speaking. A study published by Institute for Fiscal Studies, or IFS, details the differences in degree choices between women and men as a possible explanation for the pay gap. IFS goal as an organization aims to make all its research findings available to the public to see. First started as an independent research institute, “IFS was launched with the principal aim of better informing public debate on economics in order to promote the development of effective fiscal policy.” (AAUW, 1). Generally speaking, according to IFS, women are more likely to choose jobs closer to home. This usually happens when mothers have to tend to their newborn. This limits their options for jobs and occupations that pay more. Their male counterparts are not as likely to do this. But this does bring up a fair point: “Money isn’t – and shouldn’t be – the only factor used to decide degree subjects. But we should be concerned if information on the returns to different subjects isn’t easily available to young people, and if the large differences in subject choice (arts for girls, economics for boys) are driven as much by gender stereotypes as by true preferences.” (AAUW, 4). If these ideas of women choosing certain degrees are driven by gender stereotypes are true, then how many lives have this affected for as long as this has gone on? Although it is true that certain professions are riskier and get compensated as such, there should be a way to not have such a disparity between the genders. Especially with a society as developed and informed as ours is now, there should be a solution such as a new type of legislation that can fix it.

It is no secret that women and men are different. It is also no secret that women get paid 83 cents to a man's dollar. This problem will need to be fixed or else it will continue to have a significant negative effect on women in the world. Leaders such as Jessamyn Schaller and Megan Rapinoe, and well respected, credible, and informed publications such as NPR and IFS are doing their part in the fight for equality for all. This is an issue that we all must come together and do “our part” in. Some issues aren’t as “black and white” as they seem and may require more than some legislation to fix. It may take years for the people who believe that women get paid less than men to finally be treated as they deserve and fight for. Most humans would agree that Women should not be punished for choosing certain degrees and caring for their newborns. As stated, the information is there to show the disparity. Many people will continue with lives without giving much thought, as they are not the ones being negatively affected.