Women’s average income has been a fraction of men’s income for decades. This thesis is based on the notion that gender stereotypes encourage sexist behavior by employers, which in turn contribute to this gender wage disparity at least partially. The means of leading women to be penalized for hiring (access) and for pay (value) stereotypes have been researched; certain stereotypes are linked to segregation of the workforce and standards that dictate that women are more responsible than men for childcare.
Women are paid 79 cents a dollar for men—despite millions of more women being employed for the last few decades and making enormous progress in education. Too often it is presumed that this discrepancy in salaries does not demonstrate discrimination, but instead is a statistical artifact that does not adapt to conditions that could lead to inequalities in income between men and women. However, these characteristics, especially employment discrepancies between women and men, are sometimes influenced by gender prejudicialities. When a woman gets her first money, for example, her job choice is to complete her education, mentor guidance, hire companies, and broad-based labor balance standards and expectancies between employers, colleagues, and society. This decision is formed by discrimination, cultural standards, and other unchecked influences, even if it is overwhelmingly women that enter low-paying, female-dominated occupations.
The gender wage gap is real—and impacts women all over by reducing their income and hampering work and family balance. Serious efforts to explain the difference in gender salary should not involve shifting the blame for not earning more from women. Instead, those approaches should consider where, at every phase of their education, training, and career choice, our economies offer women uneven possibilities.
However, these parameters — especially the inequalities of employment between women and men — are altered by gender. Serious efforts to explain the difference in gender salary should not involve shifting the blame for not earning more from women. Instead, those approaches should consider where, at every phase of their education, training, and career choice, our economies offer women uneven possibilities.