I have one recommendation to reduce gender wage gap in the work place is to unionization at workplace for women. Mostly men are involved in union based work but a few women are cautious about union at workplace. Unionized women make 87.8 percent of men’s wages versus their non-union counterparts who earn 79.9 percent. Growth of unionization at workplace could be a crucial tool for women to use against employers who discriminate in pay, but the trend in the country is going in the opposite direction.
I am agree with Allison’s idea of increasing minimum wage because most of our women are involved in minimum wage job. So, if the minimum wage increased, our women will enjoy better life style.
Affordable child care and increasing the number of child care also another excellent idea which will positively impacts on women’s income. In addition, increasing the number of day care center also create many jobs for other women. In this way, other women can make money at home and boost our economy. Overall, Allison’s presentation was awesome and I feel connected with this issue because I had to face this issue in my life
The problem presented by Ms. Baal is an important question we must address as a society. Whether it is a serious problem is up for debate but it certainly should be a subject we can no longer shy away from as a society. There are significant societal benefits to having gender income equality as she addressed in her presentation but the issue is quite complex and one that cannot be remedy by passing legislation or expanding child care. The mentality towards women in society is a factor that affects the gender wage gap. Presently, there are a few countries with close gender pay gap such as Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland and Sweden. Although the US lags behind these countries on the gender wage gap issue, there are numerous factors to consider before the US can climb up the rankings on this list. The first is that full time male employees work on average 41.1 hours compared to their female counterparts who work about 37 hours. Also, the gender wage gap between Asian men and women are much closer and higher other ethnic groups. Does that mean white women should be paid the same as Asian men? Additionally, unionize jobs pay higher wages and that field is saturated with men rather than women.
When the debates shifts to single childless working women and men, studies have found that women make more than their male counterparts as a higher percentage of women have advanced degrees. When breaking it down by racial groups, African American women earn more than African American males. Also, depending on the sector, women earn higher wages than men. For example, women who work in cafeterias earn more than men. Hence, the wage gap topic has several layers that must be considered before proceeding with what are the best policy options that will close the gap in most sectors.
The best policy options proposed by Ms. Baal is the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act. This legislation will close the wage gap and increase the annual earnings of women. But I would also recommend that Ms. Baal include opportunities for unionization because this will help encourage women to negotiate higher salaries and data shows that unionized jobs account for some of the wage gap between men and women.
The presentation was very informative and brought forth a lot of aspects of gender wage inequality not often assessed. The policy options were realistic, achievable, and beneficial to a significant number of the populace.
The gender wage gap was succinctly defined and there was ample evidence to suggest that it is indeed a serious issue for the Department of Labor to address. Not only is it an issue of fairness and civil rights for women, it is an economic issue that has deleterious effects throughout the economy – and therefore, society. The breakdown of what exactly the “wage gap” is was detailed and helpful in explaining the various and complicated factors.
It is my opinion that efforts should focus on addressing systemic gender inequality, and what can be practically done to rectify the underlying issues. For example, focusing efforts on programs that encourage girls in STEM fields, and also address misogyny and other forms of gender bias in these arenas, will put more women into high-paying fields. The wage gap will narrow when women can “choose” higher-paying careers starting at a young age, and are supported in those fields.
Another key issue in the wage gap is women “choosing” to take parental leave for childbirth, and other work absences related to family caregiving. Paid family leave that includes paternity leave, paid sick leave, and other gender-neutral family-friendly policies will help equalize the duty of child care among the genders. This will also help close the gap.
As Jonatta has explained very well, one element that must be kept in mind is how race impacts the wage gap. It must not be feminism and equality only for white women—so efforts in the above two policy approaches must specifically address the issues of non-white demographics. And while we work towards a discrimination-free America in other areas like education, raising the minimum wage will help close the gap for minority women (and, not incidentally, minority men), who are more likely to work low-wage jobs.
I am less supportive of the Paycheck Fairness Act, simply because current laws on the books have not adequately addressed the problem. Passage of the Act may have the opposite effect of mollifying people into thinking “Yay—gender discrimination is over!” while leaving the real causes unaddressed.