Get Inspired, Be Empowered › Forums › Gender Justice › Women typically earn less and hold less secure jobs than men. › Reply To: Women typically earn less and hold less secure jobs than men.
The moment anyone talks about the ever-growing and evident wage gap between men and women, there is always someone who claims that the gender gap is a myth and that women and men are equal socially, economically, and politically these days. In addition to that, they make sure to attach a random fabricated poll to prove their misogynistic point.
Yet, it is an unchangeable fact that women are paid less than men in whichever field they go to unless they’re ring girls or porn stars, whose payments are fixed according to demand and since women are mostly appreciated for only being objects for the male gaze. But in the common job net, like in retail workers, sales managers, technicians, designers, drivers, financial managers, real estate brokers, medical technicians and many more.
Moreover, in typical superior–subordinate scenarios, where the superior is a man, it is often seen that they withhold deserving promotions for women employees until they are offered sexual favours. There are too many instances of this kind, the most recent famous one being the Karnataka CM with his scandalous ‘Sex for Favours’ tape.
Another unfair treatment of women in the job industry is not being given jobs unless they’re young and unmarried, this is owing to the fear of having to grant paid maternity leaves, more insurance from the company, and other incentives. Furthermore, they assume that married women will be ‘busy’ handling the kids and will have no time to complete tasks assigned to them, that they will not be able to concentrate on work due to their ‘maternal instincts’ or the stereotype that they’ll spend hours gossiping while they’re supposed to be working.
These assumptions on the part of the employer provide a very difficult situation for mothers or wives who wish to work and have some financial independence. This is also a reason for the high female turnover rate.
It is also observed that occupations that do employ women, pay them less because more often they assume ‘female-typical’ working-time arrangement for them and that they work less because they are ‘less strong’; both of which contribute to the gender wage gap among the highly qualified.
People often overestimate men’s capabilities and underestimate women’s abilities. Society accepts that women are generally multitaskers when it comes to following gender norms like cooking, cleaning, looking after a young child, and running the house. But when it comes to running a company or, at the least, working in a company, a woman is suddenly deemed not capable of doing the bare minimum.
Whereas a forward-thinking person who lives in the 21st century should believe that women are great multitaskers and owing to that, they have better concentration and great new ideas.
Plus, hiring more women and paying them more would result in lesser on-the-job sexual harassment cases because sexual harassment is mostly a men’s issue. 🙂
The pandemic, however, has turned the tables on the increasing women’s employment. Especially in India, according to the WEF, the gender gap has increased dramatically, and India is currently in the 140th position among 156 nations participating in the rankings.
Women are forced to sit at home all day tending to the families like wives are supposed to do in society, and this has also brought a hike in domestic abuse cases, because men deem it his duty to go and work, because it is a hurt to his pride if he is living off of his wife’s earnings. This brings women down to mere housewives, strips them of their financial and social independence, and chains them down like they used to be centuries ago.
It should be noticed at least now that every single argument regarding a women’s issue comes down to men’s efforts in trying to protect the oppressive patriarchal system that puts them on a pedestal and women’s efforts in smashing it down.