Activity #10

The gender wage gap battle has been going on for a long time. Do men really get paid more than women? Is this a fair practice? These are some of the questions that come up when analyzing and debating this situation.
Some people feel that there is not a gap in salary, some people feel that there is and it is okay because of certain justifications, and some people feel that there is a gap and it is not an okay situation.
Women are seen as being the caretakers in a household. That is where their top priority lies. Then the next priority can be working. Once a women decides not to be a stay at home mom or a housewife she has the option of going into the work force, but how many hours a week will she work, what kind of job will she apply for or accept? These are some of the factors that are raised in the great debate.
In 1900 there were about 20% of women in the workforce. This number has risen throughout the years. In 1950 it had risen to 34% and then more recently in 2000 there were 60% of women in the workforce which is creeping close to the 71% of men.
The educational background of the applicants is not supposed to have a lot to do with the hiring process. If a man and a woman have the same educational background they should each have an equal chance of obtaining this job. However, the wage gap can be justified because statistically men are able to apply more time and energy to a job and also, women are less likely to continuously work after graduating school.
Also, in justifying the wage gap, some occupational influences that affect women are the hours per week they must work, the stress level of the job, and will she be able to take time off for emergency family situations. The basic summary of June O'Neill's essay was she showed that wages can be influenced by more than discriminatory factors, there are nondiscriminatory factors that we have to take into account. She also states that these factors are unlikely to change unless the roles of men and women in the household also change and level out to a more equal distribution.
The no side of this discussion, I found that men are more likely to earn an annual salary over $1 million (13:1) and the annual income doesn't level out until the $25,000-$30,000 range. A point that was made in this sections by Hilary Lips that bothered me and kept me from taking in the rest of the reading was her talk about hourly income. When looking at the wage gap the focus is more on annual income and not hourly rates. My argument is a woman could get paid more per hour and work less than a man but the man being able to work more could still earn more per year. She, to me, pointed this fact out, but not in the most blunt way. She spoke of overtime and bonuses which she believes men will make more per year than women and she also touched on that they will most likely earn more per year.
There is also the argument made about whether women want to have the same types of jobs and leadership positions that men hold. I think women are capable of these positions and I know plenty of women who are in these positions. I think partly it could also do with geographical locations and other factors, not just gender and age and education.
This was an interesting subject to read on. I agreed with some things and was put off by others. If asked my stance on the wage gap debate, I'd have to say that I don't believe there is much of one and if there is I think I would agree and say it is justified. I think if women ever want this to change, they need to be more assertive and show that they deserve what they deserve. I still don't know completely what it is I'm going to do with my life. I finally declared an English major and I can do just about anything with it. For most of high school I was set on going into advertising before a science teacher suggested I try engineering- I did, and it didn't work too well- but I know if I wanted to I could be a CEO in an advertising agency or I could be the coordinator for the next big campaign. The only thing that is stopping anyone from going up the corporate ladder is themselves. We can point fingers all we want and say that the system is lopsided and things like that. But I think when it's all said and done, we control our destiny. If you realize, "No matter what I do I will never advance in this job" then find another job where you can. We only live once and we need to go all out in the life we have.