Navigating the Gender Pay Gap: Trends, Implications, and Solutions - Paper Sample

Introduction and Background

In a period when the concept of gender inequality in the workplace has attracted the attention of all stakeholders, the gender gap is seen as an equally important and relevant issue to consider. It is due to the impact of several dynamics. Consequently, distinct groups of women usually face pay gaps as a result of myriad reasons. For instance, the gender gap is associated with experiences, racial biases, disability, age, maternity, and other factors such as educational levels and career breakers.

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The gender pay gap is described as the average difference between the hourly wages for women and men workers. The calculation of the gap is based on numerous parameters used to the total number of employed people of both genders in a company. In general, women are perceived to be underpaid. Different countries in the world observe Equal Pay Day on different dates as a result of the different formulas used to observe the day. Besides, the difference is associated with varying wage gaps.

It is essential to focus on the struggle to achieve equal pay, which has continued for over a century. The push for equal pay has, over the years, been taken up mainly by women workers starting from the late nineteenth century.

Women were reported to have taken the jobs associated with men during World War I while men participated in the armed forces. They ultimately realized that their pay was low and would be required to do precisely the same work as their fellow men. As a result, women raised the concern of equal pay via numerous strikes during the period. The outcome of the strikes would be a settlement of a bonus, especially in pay equal to what male workers would receive.

Further, the concern of equal pay emerged again during World War II and was seen to increasingly articulate the demand by women’s organizations and trade unions starting from the 1950s onwards.

Current Trends of the Gender Pay Gap

As of 2018, it was reported that a woman, on average, would earn 81.6 cents for each dollar that a man earns. Besides, the median annual earnings of women are reported as $9.766 less than what men earn (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). It is established that the pay gap is seen as larger for women of color since black women usually make $0.62, American Indian or Alaska Native would male $0.57, Latin women make $0.54 while the Native Hawaiian alongside other Pacific Islander women usually make $0.61 for each dollar that the non-Hispanic white women earn (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019).

The percentage is witnessed to increase somewhat especially for female workers between 24-34 ages. It is an indication that women outside the above-identified range fare worse considering the pay inequality. It is shown that women falling within the 25-34 age range would earn 89% of the salaries and wages of men. However, the gap is still seen as considerably less than equal.

Reasons for Closing the Gender Pay Gap

Several reasons are associated with the need to close the gender pay gap. Women can be as productive and effective as men (Leohardt, 2010). In the modern employment world, women and men with similar qualifications, education, age, and experience may be treated the same as in the past (Leohardt, 2010). Even though efforts have been made over the years to close the gap, the gap percentage between gender pay is not the same. Women should receive similar treatment, and privileges and be placed under the same payment system if they possess identical qualifications as their male counterparts (Leohardt, 2010). Their abilities are equally the same as men at the same level.

Second, equal pay for equal work should be encouraged in the employment sector (Hauck, 2019). According to Hauck (2019), the population of men in employment is 78%, while only 55% of women are in the labor market (Hauck, 2019). The difference shows how women are less represented in the labor market, besides their unfair treatment based on pay factors. Even though women are defined as mothers, they should not be perceived as individuals to only playhouse duties. They need to get similar opportunities to secure jobs and earn equal pay with male employees for the same work done.

The third reason is that the gender pay gap occurs due to explained (measurable) and unexplained (difficult to measure) factors (Smith & McElhaney, 2017). It is true that there are specific factors to explain why women would receive less pay than their male counterparts, commonly known as measurable or described components. They include tenure in the position, age, geography, and the number of subordinates (Smith & McElhaney, 2017). In contrast, discrimination is likely to occur to women in employment based on looks, age, and skin complexion. The latter factors represent the unexplained gap reflecting implicit bias, discrimination, and social gender norms, alongside other difficult-to-measure aspects. They include negotiation tendencies established as distinct between men and women (Smith, G. & McElhaney, K., 2017). All the unexplained components for discriminating against women should be discouraged.

Lastly, critics claim that pay discrimination should not be perceived as a significant issue (Frye & Bleiweis, 2019). They state that there is no need for robust equal pay protections since they do not regard discrimination as a serious problem. Critics remain skeptical, especially on the 20% wage gap witnessed between men and women, because they claim a lack of accurate inequality measures (Frye & Bleiweis, 2019). They argue that the differences were seen in education achievement, work choices, and skills to explain much of the gap. However, I believe the gender pay gap can only partially be explained by measurable elements such as seniority or educational differences. Besides, critics forget that the above traditional measures do not entirely explain the gender gap. Therefore, I believe discrimination is a likely reason for the gap since it tends to be challenging to quantify via precise measurements.

Implications/Issues

Gender pay equity is perceived as an essential aspect for economies and societies to flourish. Nevertheless, it is established that the wage gap across the US and other countries is yet to be solved and will take several years to close as a result of the massiveness of the gap as well as the slow change pace.

What’s more, although it is observed that the gap has reduced slightly, the population of women employed, especially in the professional workplace, has declined, and the pay equity has significantly stalled. According to the World Economic Forum (2018), women across the globe are paid an average of 63% less than what their male counterparts would receive for the same type of work (World Economic Forum, 2018).

It is established that women comprise approximately half of the working potential across the world. As a result, the more a woman earns, the more fully they potentially take part in the economy. Therefore, full participation, especially for women, is considered better for the societies they leave.

The issue of attaining gender pay equity is perceived as critical for both human resources and all human beings. It is vital to close the gender wage gap as it matters to a wider range of stakeholders. Besides, it has the potential to make a difference to the bottom line and society.

The equal pay gap is a concern to the employees since they are the people directly impacted. In most cases, employees, especially women, are likely to switch to a given employer that they consider to have significantly greater gender equality. Besides, it is likely that female employees would leave their employment if they understood that male colleagues earn more, regardless of working in a similar position. Women usually experience discrimination in their workplaces, which leads to adverse outcomes at work. Besides, women employees consider equal treatment at work as important, without regard to sexual orientation, gender, race, age, or religion.

Organizations are also adversely affected by the gender pay gap issue. It influences workplace culture, the performance of the organization, and the bottom line. Companies need to close the gap as early as possible since the early movers will have certain benefits than waiting to do it in the future, which attracts more costs. It is observed that companies that formally prioritize the focus of gender pay equity are likely to experience even superior performance. Companies can beat the industry average of employee turnover benchmarks if they focus on closing the gender pay gap. Besides, they can improve their reputation and rankings against competitors.

Gender pay equity has a significant contribution to the company’s bottom line. If the employees are found to feel a fair reward is extended to them, they exhibit more motivation and enjoyment. As a result, the company experiences higher retention rates, enhanced customer orientation, an enhanced ability to receive top talent, better decision-making, and improved employee satisfaction.

Solutions/Recommendations

For most companies, diversity, equality, and inclusion are considered at the heart of their employee strategy since they know how the workforce contributes to the organization’s financial performance.

Men are not expected to be paid more for performing a given job merely due to the fact that they are men. The United States established the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which enables the federal requirement that all pay scales for similar work should be the same without regard to whether the worker performing the work is female or male. When a woman works identical work and the same hours, performs similar tasks and is expected to fulfill similar goals as her male counterpart, it is expected that she should receive equal pay. In most cases, women are usually paid less due to their gender, which is perceived as a form of discrimination and needs to be considered illegal.

Transparent policies and data alongside intelligent technologies have the potential to assist leaders, employees, and companies as a whole in making better decisions. Companies consider adding effort rather than merely meeting the increasing regulatory requirements. They need to take various steps to assist in enhancing pay equity in the company.