Essay On The Gender Pay Gap

During the 2013 Social Good Summit, Ziauddin Yousafzai said that "In most parts of the world, when a girl is born, her wings are clipped. She is not able to fly." Ever since the concept of patriarchy was made, the rights and dignity of women are taken away from them, making them the target of discrimination. Even from this day, Women are affected in their own schools, respective sports, in society, and in their own workplaces because of their own gender. An additional problem to this gender issue is the Gender pay gap wherein women are paid lesser compared to their male counterparts based on their average weekly full time earnings every month (AAUW, 2016). Fifty-three years ago, John Kennedy signed the Equal Pay act of 1963 to prevent gender

In america, 40 percent of mothers are the primary source and income for the household, making their income not supplemental but a need for the family. In reality, even if less than half of America’s household rely on women’s earnings, they are still paid on average only 77 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make (The White House). In an infographics made by American Progress (2012), for the lifetime work of a working full time women, the estimated lost income that women should get without the wage gap would be $431,360 that can feed up to a family of four for almost thirty seven years. Because of this gap, women working full time are able to afford less for their families compared to males. Consequently, women provider households are most likely to fall into poverty. These factors shows that women are struggling to support their families because of the wage gap, affecting families financially. Some also says that women earn less because they spend time off for motherhood. It is true that women spend time for motherhood but even if women take time for motherhood, single mothers possesses only 4 percent of wealth compared to single fathers which is a mere $100 compared to $25,000 according to New York University’s Wagner