Breaking the Gender Wage Gap

I am a young woman who aspires to be in the world of communication. A competitive field that many people want to be in. I know that if I had the same position as a male employee, I would be paid less. To me, the gender wage gap is what separates men and women from being paid equally for the same work. There are many different opinions about whether or not women are actually being paid equally or not. Some people believe women should not be paid equally. Other people believe that the gender wage gap is a myth. My opinion on this matter is that there is a gap; females are just as capable as men to do the same job, so they should be paid the same amount.

For instance, one of the biggest separations between male and female salaries is in professional sports. For instance, there is a league for professional female basketball players. It is known as the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). The WNBA players make way less than the NBA players. The difference is staggering. Diana Taurasi is one of the best WNBA players. She has won basketball championships for her team. In 2014, the year she won a championship, she was paid the league’s maximum salary of $107,500. However, in the same year, a NBA player for the Phoenix Suns only played 198 minutes the entire season, but received the NBA’s minimum salary of $490,000. How is this fair?

Some people say the excuse that women’s professional sports make less revenue. But, does that take into account that these sports are not well advertised compared to males’ professional sports? Even the Baseball Little League Tournament is on national programming, but the WNBA games are rarely ever on national channels. According to Vice Sports, “Currently, the average league salary is $75,000 in 2014.” The WNBA also only pays its players 33 percent of the revenue compared to the NBA paying its players half of the revenue, another statistic from Vice Sports. These women are working just as hard as men to win games, gain community support, and give back to the communities they are located in. However, they do not receive the same amount of pay, support, or attention.

Let’s look at some facts. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), “In 2015, female full-time workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent.” That means they are earning less than their male counterparts even though they make up half of the workforce. Also, it has been proven females earn more college and graduate degrees than males. This discrimination has nothing to do with their qualifications. When IWPR conducted a study, their research found that this slow pace to reach equality will take “44 years—or until 2059—for women to finally reach pay parity.” That seems like so far away because it is. The gender wage gap will not just leave overnight. Women are striving to be heard, but some reports do not show the gender wage gap to be as bad as it is.

For instance, according to an article in the Washington Post, “It’s simply the ratio of women’s average hourly pay to men’s average hourly pay. The jobs in the comparison are not the same, and when these differences are taken into account, the ratio of women’s pay to men’s rises to almost 92 percent from 79 percent, say Blau and Kahn.” (Blau and Kahn are the two researchers who conducted the study.) This report makes it seem like the gender wage gap is not that bad. It shows the gender wage gap at an eight percent difference. I do not think the gender wage gap is so close to being the same because it is too controversial. Besides, in the same article, it brought up other concerns about women in the workforce. These problems include leaving for “child-rearing, balancing work and family, lingering discrimination, and the debate over family leave and affordable daycare.”

In conclusion, I believe women are faced with challenges in the workforce. Even though, we have come a long way since the early twentieth century; it still does not seem like we have come far enough. There is still a “glass ceiling.” What I mean is an imaginary “glass ceiling” that prevents women from being on the same “level” as men. Women have proven over the years that they are just as capable as men to do the same job. I don’t want to wait around for several decades until I see women being paid the same as men.

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whats-the-real-gender-pay-gap/2016/04/24/314a90ee-08a1-11e6-bdcb-0133da18418d_story.html?utm_term=.e4599d50afdf

http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/basketballs-gender-wage-gap-is-even-worse-than-you-think