SOC 102 Topic 5 Discussion 2
answer
Individuals are often stratified based on the three principles of class, race, and gender. One issue that is related to gender is the pay gap between men and women. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2010 that in median annual earnings for full-time workers, women made 77 cents for every dollar a man earned (Staples, 2011). Although this gap is slowly closing, it will be many years until there is equitable pay between the two sexes. Meanwhile, bills must be paid, groceries must be purchased and children must attend college while the gap persists.
One example of stratification based on gender is the pay gap between men and women. “Women’s median income for full-time, year-round work in 2008 was $36,931 compared with men’s median income of $47,127″ (American Association of University Women). In 2010, women who worked year round full time earned only 77 cents for every dollar that a man earned. More than 20% of this difference cannot be explained by occupation, industry, work experience or any other characteristic often examined.” This means that even though a woman may perform the same job as a man she will still earn less than he does because she is a woman.
The gender pay gap is a long standing issue in the United States. In 2014, the median income for women in the United States was 80 % of what men made. This pay gap exists across all age groups, occupations, and education levels (Mishel and Sabadish 351.) For example, if a man and woman work at a company that pays its workers $10 per hour normally, but they both get a raise. The man gets $12 an hour while the woman only gets $11 per hour. The reason for this discrepancy is rooted in historical gender roles. Women were expected to stay home and take care of their children while their husbands worked. Because of this expected role, women have historically entered into lower paying jobs while men took on productive roles that paid better wages, such as working in factories or being doctors or lawyers. While laws like the Equal Pay Act have been in place for some time, discrimination is still an issue . Employment discrimination is especially problematic since employers often mistakenly expect that women won’t do as good of a job as men, so they don’t hire them; when it comes to the workplace there is no reason for this pay gap since women can perform just as well as men when given equal opportunities (
The pay gap in the United States is a well known issue. Women are consistently paid less than their male counterparts. There are several factors that come into play. Women hold less management positions and mostly fill lower paying jobs. Additionally, women take more time off to have children and tend to care for sick family members, which impacts the amount of hours worked in a year, reducing their yearly income. The father typically has a higher income role, working longer hours more consistently. The gender pay gap is one that is not going away any time soon but awareness can help bring about social change within companies and working women themselves.
Gender inequality is still a major issue in the United States. For example, women earn $0.79 for every dollar that men earn. Even though the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was passed to ensure that men and women get equal pay, there are still inequalities. According to the Pew Research Center, women who worked full-time in 2014 made just 78% of what men earned doing the same job.
Today women make about 77 cents for each dollar a man makes for the same work, but there is evidence to say that women choose to leave jobs that don’t offer equal pay. Regardless of pay, women are still faced with unfair treatment at work, including being ignored by male colleagues, being held to different standards than male coworkers, and even being overlooked in hiring processes.
Around the world, women are paid less than their male counterpart, and it’s the same in America. For example, on average a woman earns about $0.80 for every $1.00 a man earns, which is called the gender pay gap [1]. One possible reason for this is discrimination [2]. Women are not promoted to higher paying jobs because employers promote men to these positions. Another possible reason for this is segregation [3] from historically being only in “female” occupations. This also has lead to an adjusted baseline for starting salary and is further enforced through implicit bias.
Currently, women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns in the same position. This means that women, who make up almost half of the total workplace wage earners, are being paid less than 77% of what their male counterparts earn. According to the Pew Research Center, it will be another 45 years until men and women are paid equally at this rate. Three main factors contribute to this pay gap: occupational segregation, segregation by industry and by seniority, and gender differences in education.
In the United States, women are paid 78 percent of what men earn. According to the American Association of University Women, in 2015, median annual earnings for women who worked full time, year-round were $41,554 as compared with $50,383 for men who worked full-time, year-round. The gap has narrowed only 4 cents since it was last examined and remains at 20 percent.
Within the United States, women face a large wage gap compared to men. Men are often paid more than women for the same work simply because they are male. This gap has been slowly closing, but in 2016, women were still being underpaid by 19 percent for full-time workers.
question
Through research, find an example of issues related to two of the three organizing principles of stratification in the United States (class, race, and gender). How are individuals stratified based on each of the two principles you chose? Provide citations for the sources you use. An example of an issue related to gender is the pay gap between men and women.