In 2009 President Obama signed into law the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (The Whitehouse, n.d.). The major provisions of this Act prohibits wage discrimination based on sex, race, or national origin among employees for work in equivalent jobs. According to National Committee on Pay Equity (n.d.), the Act defines “equivalent jobs are those who’s composite of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions are equivalent in value, even if the jobs are dissimilar.” Today women earn roughly seventy-nine cents for every dollar earned by men. Atchinson, Belcher, and Thornsen (2013) state that women have entered the workforce not only because of increased educational opportunities but also because of the need for two paychecks in many families …show more content…
Another way of stating this would be it is how employees in an organization are equally paid in relation to those who perform similar jobs within their organization and in relation to those performing similar jobs in other organizations. There are several factors that must be considered. These factors include skill level, responsibility of the role, and working conditions. One would think that the concept of equal pay for equal work is a fundamental human right. The Fair Act Law has as its goal to stop discrimination related to the under-valuation of work traditionally performed by women. Equal pay for women and men levels the playing field that has been suppressed by pay imbalances over the past decades. If people are, as we continually state, our most valuable resource, we should pay women in a way comparable to their worth as we do men in the job they perform. Disclosure of …show more content…
It can also lead to greater motivation among employees. By compensating workers for the fair value of their work, businesses are able to recruit and retain the best-qualified workers. Additionally, Indiviglio (2011) states that pay equity makes the labor market more efficient. On the other side, inequality or unfairness in pay whether internal or external can result in low morale and decreased organizational effectiveness. For example, if employees feel they are being paid unfairly, they may restrict their efforts or leave the organization which damages the organization’s overall
This essay expresses the opinion of Tara Siegel Bernard on behalf of the existence of the gender pay gap and focuses on it being a primary issue in the workplaces of major companies. The essay goes on to discuss how our society expects women and men to both behave in particular ways and how that idea has contributed to the ever present pay gap, such as how “. . . the imbalance often traces back to women being hired at a lower salary than their male peers” and “. . . women are less inclined to ask for raises. . .” Pointing out the possible reasons for the gender pay gap helps to establish the need for companies and our country’s leaders to find solutions.
In the United States, women have been fighting for their equality since the beginning. First, it was the women’s suffrage movement that was catching everyone’s eye. Recently, the fight against the gender wage gap has come to many people’s attention and is finally making an
The gender pay gap has been a very controversial topic for a long time. Abby Hayes talks about this topic in her article, “Gender Pay Gap - Statistics, Trends, Reasons and Solutions”. Abby Hayes is a journalist who writes about personal finance, health, and wellness, she also has a B.A. in English Literature from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Through her article she explains the gender pay gap, the difference in pay of women and men, and how women can solve the difference so that they can get equal pay. Hayes uses research and statistics to give reason to her examples and what she says about the gender pay gap.
The new ruling by President Obama that employers must disclose pay data also this law extends the period in which a pay discrimination suit can be filed. This law is believed to help the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Labor Department to better do their job and enforce the equal pay laws. Recently discussion of pay within the office is becoming more common and less taboo. Another way that this law is thought to work is also to help companies self-correct without the help of the government are by a lawsuit. The EEOC reports that women are only paid 79 cents on the dollars that the typical man does the gap is even wider for women of color.
In 1998, a woman named Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. for sexual discrimination. She realized that during her years of working for Goodyear, she had been paid thousands of dollars less than the men in working the same job as her. She sued, and the case worked its way up to the Supreme Court over the course of 9 years. Ledbetter lost, as the court ruled she did not claim discrimination within 180 days of receiving a check (“Ledbetter” 1-3). However, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was passed two years later — seemingly granting women in America equal pay forever.
As modern society has made clear, women have the ability to perform with equal skill and success in virtually every endeavor engaged in by men, including employment, athletics, academics and politics. Yet discrimination on the basis of sex has a long history in the United States, and its residual effects still operate to keep women's salaries lower and opportunities fewer in the employment
During and after the Civil War, women’s demand in job keeps increasing. They desired to work and be independent, which means they tried to have more identities, except for housewife. Moreover, they desired to own equal pay and equal opportunities in workplace, compared to men. Quested for decades, Congress finally passes the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as part of Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938, for prohibiting employers wage discriminating employees based on gender. Equal Pay Act of 1963 specifically regulates that “No employer having employees subject to any provision of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed..at which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which requires equal similar working conditions”.
Today, women work in various jobs taking impactful roles in countries and established businesses worldwide. Even though the wage gap doesn't yield a perfect 1:1 ratio, the gap is steadily decreasing with the constant efforts led by
Did they win their fight, or are they fighting for no reason? Equal pay was always a struggle for women. When men and women in the same workplace got paid different amounts for the same amount of work it angered women. “The persistence of gender-based wage disparities — commonly referred to as the pay or wage gap — has been the subject of extensive debate and commentary.
By working as a financial advisor for Allstate, all of my income is derived from commission. Moreover, each financial advisor is apportioned a specific number of agents to work with. Allstate designed the commission scales to increase as more production is produced. The financial advisor didn’t feel the commission scales were impartial to everyone.
The gender pay gap is a significant issue in the United States because it promotes institutional and internal sexism and the unfair treatment of human beings. An infamous statistic about the wage gap has been the 77 cent statistic, stating that for every dollar a man earns, a woman earns 77 cents. The statistic is calculated by, “...dividing the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working women by the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working men, all rounded to the nearest $100” (Glynn 2). This, however, represents males and females from all occupations, causing opponents to argue that, because it does not represent the gap between people who have the same job, a wage gap does not exist. Nonetheless, multiple studies have proven that a gender pay gap does exist within the United States.
Women should request a twenty percent pay increase to even up the gender pay gap. In most jobs women earn eighty cents for every dollar a man earns for the exact same job. Employers should pay good, qualified women, who can competently perform their job duties, the same wages they pay men for the same work. Earning twenty percent less is a significant amount and it adds up over time. Throughout the years the pay gap has narrowed but it’s still not equal pay for equal work.
The gender pay gap is the difference between earnings made by men and earnings by women. The Gender pay gap is generally due to various reasons, such as differences discrimination in hiring process, differences in negotiations for pay, differences in education choices, differences in the jobs men can go compare to women can’t easily go for. Some factors that cause the gender pay gap: • Women leave and re-enter the workforce to meet their family and children expectations • Low pay for some jobs, like childcare due to historical trends that continue • Lower educational levels of women due to traditions • Discrimination in the hiring process, compensation and promotion at workplace.
Stacy Adams believed that when there is inequity people will react in several different ways, some will justify the inequity by downplaying their efforts, eg ‘I don’t work that hard so I don’t deserve what that person earns’, or highlighting the referents inputs, eg ‘that person is more qualified than me so deserves better pay’. However, his theory relies on the following reaction, if the person perceiving the inequity increases or decreases their inputs to match the referents outcomes to create a more equal work environment. This was shown to be true in a study with piece-rate employees. Those who felt they were being underpaid increased quantity and reduced quality in order to achieve the same pay as other workers.
The United States is currently facing an economical problem that involves males and female differences within the workplace. Males are given bigger and sometimes even better rewards for doing equal amounts of work as their female counterparts. Females are frequently not receiving the same wage even if they can complete the same job of a male. Also, females are less likely to get promoted within their job if they are competing against a male. A source states, “Women are now more likely to have college degrees than men, yet they still face a pay gap in every single education level,