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Women's Pay In The United States

Decent Essays

Half of the whole workforce in the United States is made up of women, yet their average pay is more than twenty percent less than a male counterpart (“Pay”)(Claire). If they do ask for a raise, many employers deem them as untrustworthy though many men are more respected. (Claire). Women in the United States make only seventy-eight cents to every man’s dollar (“Pay”). Yet, 49,000,000 children in the U.S. today rely on a female to provide them with food, clothing, and other necessities (“Did”). Women being paid less is caused because of sexism, the history of our nation, and small details that employers find relevant enough to lower a woman’s pay.
Sexism has been a deciding factor in the amount females are paid even in recent times. Studies have …show more content…

This can be seen in the approximately two-hundred year difference between when men and women began voting. In modern times, it seems that women would be seen more as equals, but that is not the case. The gender pay gap, the difference in the amount of money a man and a woman in the same position are paid, has not changed sufficiently in over a decade (“The”). If growth continues at the rate it has been going it will take forty-four years before men and women are presented with equal pay. This is, of course, assuming that men’s salaries don’t rise as well. This also doesn't apply to all careers. In job positions generally taken by men, such as construction workers, the pay gap has not changed in nearly forty years. Poverty among working women could be cut in half if pay were equal in all careers (“Pay”). President Obama is currently working on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which renews the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This said that if two workers are doing equal amounts and quality of work they must be paid the same. Though, whether or not they are equal is decided upon by the employer which is why President Obama is trying to get the Paycheck Fairness Act passed (“Did”). Perhaps it is complicated to try and change the pattern of a country’s entire history, but some employers are searching for ways that they are able to lower their female applicants and employees'

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