Essay On Gender Pay Gap

In the United States, there has always been a barrier when it comes to race, ethnicity, and gender. In today's society, being a woman and anything but white makes the barrier and wider. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women earn approximately 78 cents to the man's dollar. Part of this problem is due to women receiving different jobs than men. Between 2009 and 2013, women were more prone to have secretary jobs. Behind being a secretary, women were also mostly nurses and teachers. By contrast, men were prone to have jobs such as sales workers, drivers, and managers; managers include handling money in some way. But even after separating the type of jobs, the wage gap still exist. In the school system women take up about 70 percent, yet males still earn more. The gap is seen when “male teachers earn a median of $1,096 a week, whereas women earn $956 -- about 87 cents to the man's dollar” (CITE). This cent gap cripples women in all aspects of

The question that raises is, what is the reason behind women of color being paid less than Asian women and white women in America? The problem partly stems from poor education. African American women are less likely to graduate from high school or college than whites and Asian Americans. Lower graduation rates creates an unequal environment, causing them to enter the workforce without full access to the tools needed to maintain a well paying job. While education improves net income for each gender, “African American and Hispanic women tend to be paid less than their white peers even when they have the same educational background” (CITE). Educational background can’t be the whole story. A possible explanation is discrimination. Racism is embedded in today's society, so whether intentional or unintentional, it weaves its way through the crevices of a social need. This case being