Today, April 14th, is Equal Pay Day. Why April 14th? Because on this day women’s earnings will have finally caught up to men’s earnings from last year. In other words, the day symbolizes the gender pay gap; it takes a woman 15 months of work to earn what a man in the same position is paid in 12 months.
There are many statistics regarding how many cents a woman earns to a man’s dollar. In his 2013 and 2014 State of the Union addresses, Obama declared that women earn “77 cents for every dollar a man earns.” Later in the year, the White House raised that figure to 78 cents (#progress?). Meanwhile recent studies by the Pew Research Center have found that this number is closer to 84 cents (#PROGRESS). Regardless of the statistic being throw around, the fact that women aren’t earning 100 cents for every dollar a man earns proves that the gender pay gap persists. Despite the gap narrowing, it’s still a problem (#NeedMoreProgress). Why don’t women receive equal pay?
Women’s work is devalued.
It’s been long withstanding that femininity is generally regarded more negatively than masculinity. Thus, traditionally “feminine” occupations such as secretaries, teachers, care workers and nurses have lower salaries than more traditionally “manly” careers as engineers or scientists. It just so happens that these “feminine” positions are more often than not filled by women. Regardless, when men take these positions they earn more than their female counterparts, signifying that the gendering of the job itself isn’t the entire problem but rather it’s also the gendering of skills…
Gender discrimination.
As if gendering a job isn’t bad enough (WHY ARE WE ASSIGNING A GENDER TO AN INANIMATE THING?), skills are gendered too. Just for being a woman it might be assumed that you are less hardworking, not as smart/too pretty to have a brain, too weak to lift heavy objects/too dainty, unable to lead without being bossy or who knows what else, ultimately leading to a lower paycheck than a man in the same position. Why are certain traits often associated with women looked down upon? This is straight-up sexism.
The Motherhood Penalty.
Another big assumption people make about women is that they are the primary caregivers for their family. While this is often true, the effect on a woman’s salary isn’t just from maternity leave or having to take time off to care for a severely ill child but rather simply from having children. Women often receive lower wages than their male counterparts due to an assumption (unconscious or not) that they will compromise the quality of their work because they are more focused on their family. This is unfair not only because it’s discriminating, but it’s the complete opposite of what happens to men when they have families; called the Fatherhood Bonus, men with families often receive higher wages because they are perceived as more stable. Seriously, this is a big issue. Read this and this for more info.
It seems the real problem here is stereotypes. Whether or not women are the primary caregivers for their family should not affect their paycheck nor should assumptions based solely on gender have an impact. The Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963 to end wage disparity on the basis of sex, yet over 50 years later the wage gap persists (and it’s worth mentioning that this gap is even larger for minority women due to even more layers of discrimination). It’s 2015. Women deserve equal pay.
For more information, check out this short video that the Pew Research Center created to help explain the gender pay gap. I also highly suggest registering for SOC138, The Sociology of Gender.