The Gender-Based Wage Gap

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On average, women who work full-time make 78 cents of every dollar a man earns, this gap in wage deprives women of the income needed to support herself and her family. This is very prevalent when half of the workforce today are women, and yet still bring home less money each day.To demonstrate, a recent study by the Institute for Women's Policy Research for the AFL-CIO shows the cost of the gender-gap when “The average family loses $4,000 each year in unequal women’s wages” (Goodman, Ellen. "Pay-equity Issue Is Back On National Agenda, And Not A Decade Too Soon." Tribunedigital-sunsentinel. N.p., 20 Mar. 1999. Web.). This study shows how getting paid 22 cents less can have a very devastating impact on women. In an article on unequal pay the …show more content…

The fact that women who work full time make 77 percent of what men do is discrimination in its own right, when Bryce Covert writes an article on discrimination on working women when he states “A more recent study by economists Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn found that while experience, occupation, and industry explain much of the gap, there is still more than 40 percent of it that remains unexplained, the part that could be chalked up to discrimination” (Covert, Bryce. "Here’s Why We Know The Gender Wage Gap Really Does Exist." Think Progress Here's Why We Know The Gender Wage Gap Really Does Exist Comments. Center For American Progress Action Fund, 08 Apr. 2014. Web.). In addition Covert talks about women being discriminated when he states, “We can also look to the real world to see instances where it’s clear that outright discrimination is still at play… where female employees across the and with substantial experience say they were still paid less than less qualified men”(Covert, Bryce. "Here’s Why We Know The Gender Wage Gap Really Does Exist." Think Progress Here's Why We Know The Gender Wage Gap Really Does Exist Comments. Center For American Progress Action Fund, 08 Apr. 2014. Web.). This is also seen when a PEW Research Center article discusses the gender gap and how “women are about twice as likely as men to say they had been discriminated against at work because of their gender (18% vs. 10%)”(Patten, Eileen. "On Equal Pay Day, Key Facts about the Gender Pay Gap." Pew Research Center RSS. N.p., 14 Apr. 2015. Web.). To this extent, discrimination towards women in the workforce is one of the main reasons women don’t get paid as much as they should which could better the harsh circumstances which women live in

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