Gender inequality refers to the imbalanced perceptions or treatment of people based on their gender. The foundation of gender inequality is the socially constructed gender responsibilities in addition to biological differences, hormonal differences as well as the brain structure. Gender inequality has been one of the major problems facing not only the United States but other parts of the globe. Women in various parts of the globe are treated differently when compared to their male counterparts. For example, in many societies women are taken as lesser beings and always provided with the lesser available opportunities. Though there are many areas in which women are discriminated against, the main concern that is facing women in the U.S today is income gender discrimination (Patten & Patten, 2015). For a very long period of time, women have been receivin
...g lesser income when compared to their male counterparts even when they possess the same level of education, skills and experience. This paper seeks to examine gender inequality in the U.S.
Even though the United States has greatly advanced in terms of civilization, income gender inequality remains one of the main challenges that it must work hard to tackle. Women in the U.S have continued to reap peanuts while at the same time their male counterparts pocket lump sum as their income. Even in situations whereby the women hold better qualifications than their male counterparts, women find themselves been paid either the same amount or even lesser.
According to a research done by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in 2014, in various offices women represent half of the work force; and they represent equal if not full-breadwinner in four out of
10 families in the US. Though women receive even more graduate and college degrees when compared to the men, they continue to earn lesser than their male counterparts. As per the research, for every dollar than a man made in the U.S in 2014, a woman made only 79 cents which represents a wage gap of 21 percent (Forbes.com, 2016).
As per the research, if the trend will continues and any change takes place at such a slow space as it has been done in the past, then it might take more than 44 years for the wage parity to get filled. As the research conducted by the organization, women are earning less than their male counterparts in almost every occupation. Some of the reasons outlined by the report show that women have for a long period been sidelined in not only pay but also in promotions and hiring. Since most of the promotions are accompanied by rise in pay, most women have been left behind in the rise of their salaries because they do not get the promotions.
Some of the organizations particularly organizations that deal with information technology and engineering oriented have a habit of not employing women. According to Asme.org (2012), even though technology and engineering are among the most paying industries, women have been left out in these tow industries for a very long period of time. though the number of women engineering students has improved to between 18 to 20 percent, the number of women engineers who get employment in the major engineering firms which are better paying are just but few (whitehouse.gov,2015). Though most of the industries have continued to argue
that they leave women out in their job recruitment due to the many tough requirements of the industry such as long working hours and working from risk areas such as cliff, these allegations remain not sufficient to support these inequalities.
Though for the last decades women have worked hard to advance in the acquiring of the education and experience for them to fit well in the current job market, this has not well been reflected as many industries continue to segregate women in job recruitments. The IWPR’s research shows that regardless of the education and skill levels, jobs that are predominantly done by women normally pay less on average when compared to the jobs that are predominantly done by men. Even though women have made recommendable strides in the last decades by moving into occupations and jobs that were previously dominated by men, but during the last decade there has been very slight has progress in the bid towards gender integration at work. The construction industry is among the leading industries were men dominance seems to be the order of the day. For the last forty years there has been no or very little progress in the integration of women in the construction industry.
This continued occupational segregation is the main contributor to the increasing lack or little progress in closing the ballooning gender wage gap. The research also shows that if women were paid the same salaries and wages as their male counterparts, then poverty rate among women in the U.S would have been cut by half. Bearing in mind the contribution of women to the stability of families, it is clear that every sane individual
will help both the state as well as the federal governments in their bid to ensure that gender inequality particularly income gender inequality becomes a thing of the past and women in all parts of the United states are respected and given the same opportunities like their male counterparts.
Efforts to reduce gender inequality
Both women in collaboration with other civil unions have come up with various ways to ensure that the gap between women and men in various aspects is reduced. One of the efforts taken to reduce gender inequality in United States is through the establishment of the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE). NCPE is a coalition of women, religious, women, civil rights organizations, professional, legal, educational, labor unions, individuals, state and local pay equity coalitions among other organizations to help in eliminating race and sex-based wage discrimination and to realize equity in payment (Pay-equity.org, 2016). The main purpose of the organization was to help in championing towards the closing of the wage gap that exists between women, as well as people from other ethnic groups.
According to the research done by NCPE, the wage gap exists in the United States between men and women since women have been segregated from the well-remunerated jobs and made to settle for such poorly-paid jobs like sales, service as well as clerical jobs. In addition, the research conducted by the organization has shown that the more a job is dominated by women then the lesser the remunerations. The organization has helped reduce the wage gap through providing women with civic education concerning their rights and why they have to compete for better-paying jobs with their male counterparts. The
organization also has helped to reduce the gender wage gap by ensuring that the different authorities concerned with payment evaluate and compensate depending on their level of skills, their responsibility and the working conditions.
Another effort aimed at reducing gender inequality is through ensuring that women get same skills as their male counterparts. Unlike during some decades back when there was a misconception that some jobs can only be done by men, today most women have taken such courses which previously were thought to be made for men. For example, today the percentage of women pursuing engineering among other technical courses has increased to around about 20% (Iwpr.org, 2016). In addition to this, women are also venturing in construction courses and jobs under the construction industry. Engineering among other technical jobs are well-remunerated and therefore through venturing in these jobs, the gap between women and men will be reduced.
The technical jobs are better remunerated and therefore women entrance in the jobs will ensure that they get equal salaries as their male counterparts and this will help in reduction of the wage gap. When women have the same skills and education level as their male counterparts then there shall be no basis on which they can be discriminated against. This is one way through which women organizations are trying to use in order to achieve gender equality.
Conclusion
There are different ways through which women are discriminated not only in the United States but in other parts of the globe. Women are discriminated against in hiring, promotions, education, remunerations among other ways. Due to the gender parity, women in many parts of the globe have continued to be poorer
when compared to their male counterparts since they get discriminated against in almost all the opportunities. Even though NCPE is trying hard to ensure this problem is solved once and for all, other organizations and individuals need to chip in to ensure that the problem is fully mitigated.
References
- Asme.org,. (2012). Engineering Still Needs More Women. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from https://www.asme.org/career-education/articles/undergraduate-students/engineering-still-needs-more-women
- Forbes.com,. (2016). Forbes Welcome. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswomanfiles/2014/04/07/the-awful-truth-of-the-gender-pay-gap-it-gets-worse-as-women-age/#e25d857430dc
- Iwpr.org,. (2016). Pay Equity & Discrimination — IWPR. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination
- Patten, E., & Patten, E. (2015). On Equal Pay Day, key facts about the gender pay gap. Pew Research Center. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/14/on-equal-pay-day-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
- Pay-equity.org,. (2016). National Committee on Pay Equity NCPE. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from http://www.pay-equity.org/
- whitehouse.gov,. (2015). Five Facts About the Gender Pay Gap:. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/04/14/five-facts-about-gender-pay-gap
