The gender pay gap is a pervasive problem which affects women of all ages and races. In the year 2018, women were paid only 80 percent of what men earned for the same work. There are many factors which affect the gender pay gap, and the level of the pay gap is different depending on where you live in the United States. Hilary Novelle Hahn of The Style Club goes in depth on the topic of the gender pay gap, offering possible solutions going forward.
History of the Gender Pay Gap
Historically, many men would say that a woman’s place is in the home. Women were discouraged from working outside the home, except in such female-dominated occupations as nurses and teachers.
Women surged into the workplace at great rates during World War II. At this time, women took nearly all of the important jobs supporting the troops abroad, from manufacturing to military applications. When the soldiers returned from the front, many women stopped working. The popular perception was that the returning soldiers needed the jobs more because they were supporting their families. In reality, the women had as many family members to support as the men. Still, women largely returned to their predetermined roles after World War II was over.
Women began to return to the workforce in large numbers in the 1960s. General societal trends were reflected in this change. Women found themselves searching for self-realization and a sense of self-worth. As inflation continued through the 1970s, more women were working because the cost to support a family had increased.
The 1980s were known as a period of equalization between women and men. More women found themselves breaking the “glass ceiling,” or the public perception of how high they could rise in a given profession. Women took over places as diverse as the boardroom of large businesses and university professorships.
As the decades pass, women’s pay has begun to rise compared to men’s, but there is still a significant gap.
Education
The rise in women’s education has partially driven the narrowing of the gender pay gap. In 2013, the percentage of women with four-year college degrees exceeded the percentage of men with these degrees. Women continue to outpace men when it comes to education. In addition to the undergraduate degree statistics, more women than men are completing medical school and law school.
Continuing Issues
It makes sense that the gender pay gap would continue to close under these circumstances, but historical trends show that the ratio of men’s to women’s pay is shrinking slowly. One of the difficulties women face in the workplace is the perception that they will leave the field when they have children. They also face the problem that they may need flexible hours or support with childcare in order to stay in the workforce.
In many areas of the country, childcare is prohibitively expensive, and it would cost even more money to put a child in daycare than would be earned by his or her mother in the workplace. This means that working outside the home sometimes does not make economic sense for a mother.
Pressures on Women
Women are under continual pressure to be the perfect wife, mother, and employee. Men also experience these pressures, but in society as a whole, they are not pressured to be the perfect parent. Under outdated circumstances, women struggle to make up the gap in pay.
In order to repair the gender pay gap, legislation is needed which can give parity in pay for a man and a woman who have the same job responsibilities. These laws have been passed in some states, but the gender pay gap persists. Federal legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act will go a long way toward remedying this injustice. Hilary Novelle Hahn of The Style Club encourages all women to look into ways they can help to advance the spread of these laws across the country.
