The wage gap

       Its been almost 90 years since women in America gained their rights, and there are more women in the workforce now than ever before, but why is it women still only make seventy-seven cents to every man’s dollar? Personally, being a woman, I think its a big problem and needs to change. According to statistics, women make up 51% of employees in high-paying management jobs, which goes to show they are capable of the same work as men, yet still get paid less. Women are under so much pressure these days to be able to maintain a household and family and still be able hold a part or full time job especially with the economy today. With the rapid increase of men loosing their jobs, women are forced to go out and join the workforce to provide for their families all while making less than her male counterpart. It’s extreamly unfair for women who are qualified for the job to make less becuase of the fact that they are women. Among workers with bachelor’s degrees, men had median weekly earnings of $1,209 while women only had an earning of $882 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). That just goes to show that women paying the same amount of money for the same education earn significantly less than men of equal status. Even in some college Business courses, students are taught that women are a liablity when it comes to hiring employees, although they can do an equal if not better job than men can.

     So what can women do to change this neverending gap? Negotiate. When men first get hired for a job the first thing they ask about is salary, when women on the other hand are just excited they got hired and concened about staying on the bosses good side. Women need to have a set number in their heads going in and stick to it. If women become more aggressive about money issues, theres no doubt it can change. I think the wage gap is a serious problem in our society especially since men and women are supposedly “equal”. I dont think gender should determine how much you make and I know when I graduate I want to make just the same (if not more) money than my male co-workers.

This entry was posted on 12. November 2009 at 18:41 and is filed under Introduction to Sociology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.