Gender Pay Gap

I never thought I’d see this today on my route. A little old man was walking down the highway looking for a phone to call for help so I pulled over asked if he was okay or not. He told me that he had wrecked his car. I told him to hop in and I would take him back to his car and we will call somebody. I asked the gentleman to hop in his car and see if we can get it unstuck so we don’t have to call anybody, needless to say, we got it unstuck.

I asked if he needed anything else before I go, he said no son you helped make my day even better. (While he was saying this he was starting to tear up.) I asked if he was okay? And he said, “Yes son I just came to see my wife.” I was looking around and realized he was pulling into the cemetery (I got a huge knot in my stomach.) I asked how long has it been? He looked up at me with a smile and said, “Fifteen years tomorrow.”

I asked how often he comes out to see her… he smiled and said, “Every Saturday morning.” He looked at me and said, “At first everyday but after a few years, I couldn’t make it out here like that anymore.” I said man that must be hard to miss someone for that long. He looked at me and reached up to put his hand on my shoulder and said, “If you ever love someone like I loved her then this is the smallest thing I could ever do to show everyone that I love her more than life itself.” He looked at me and said, “I never had eyes for another woman and I never will. God bless you for your help and the talk.”

I just looked at him and thanked him for the lesson. We shook hands and he opened his back door and got flowers for his wife out of the back seat and walked into the cemetery as I drove down the road. I guess the gentleman was my sign from God (I have been praying for a sign to keep me going in my time of need.) The lesson is your love will never die for the one that is truly yours, just hold on and your love will reconnect somewhere in this life or the next.

"This year Equal Pay Day is March 31. Due to gender differences in wages, women, on average, have to work until March 31 to earn what men earned in the previous year alone."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2020/03/30/on-equal-pay-day-what-is-the-real-gender-pay-gap/

On Equal Pay Day, What Is The Real Gender Pay Gap? This year Equal Pay Day is March 31. Due to gender differences in wages, women, on average, have to work until March 31 to earn what men earned in the previous year alone. However, some argue that this calculation is overblown and that the gender pay gap is much smaller.

Pandemic worsens gender pay gap A recent Newsy Ipsos poll found 45% of women have had work hours cut or been laid off compared to 35% of men. Learn more about this story at https://www.news...

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/gender-wage-gap-narrows-but-shows-no-signs-of-going-away.html

Gender wage gap narrows but shows no signs of going away Over the last three decades, women's wages have increased much faster than men's in higher skilled jobs. Still, the gender pay gap persists.

Mind the gap... Equal pay for equal work.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney released the following statement on Equal Pay Day, March 31, 2020, to spread awareness for the gender pay gap.

“Equal Pay Day is our yearly reminder of the economic inequality that millions of women face, and that is particularly severe for women of color. It has never been more urgent to close the gender pay gap. The dire consequences of the pay gap are especially stark in times of crisis because women have less money saved and less accumulated wealth to rely on. This is unacceptable. Women deserve equal pay for equal work. It’s time to close the gap now by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act and enshrining women’s equality in the Constitution with the Equal Rights Amendment."

https://maloney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-maloney-statement-on-equal-pay-day

Rep. Maloney Statement on Equal Pay Day New York, NY – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) today released the following statement in recognition of Equal Pay Day.

All humans are capable. Women are humans; therefore women are just as capable as men when it comes to a job position. To be more specific, all humans are worthy of a chance to be equal. Women are humans; therefore women deserve at least a chance to be equal. This means that one person should not get paid less just because of their gender and the stereotypes that come with it. Since 1963, gender-based pay discrimination has been illegal but it is still a frequent, widespread issue. One of the many reasons why gender-based pay discrimination is still present, although it is illegal, is because most of the workplaces that participate in this type of discrimination discourage their employees to discuss wages with other coworkers. Because of this, employees fear retaliation. But how will we fix this cycle if we can’t even discuss the wages causing it? It’s a tough question because salaries and wages are usually something private. It’s actually thought of as rude to ask somebody how much they make, but why is that so taboo? To squash this bug, we’ll have to be more open with those around us in the workforce. In 2018, a study was done on how much less women make a year than men in same level positions with the same amount of schooling. It showed that on average, women make $10,000 less a year than her counterpart in a full time position. Cents add up. Overall, that’s about $400,000 lost in a 40-year career. The study is from Robin Bleiweis and the wage gaps for each group are calculated based on median earnings data she used from the U.S. Census Bureau and thus does not necessarily represent each individual woman’s personal experience. Furthermore, women are just as capable as men. It’s time to break the stereotype of women not deserving more than men in the workplace

https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/simple-truth/

The Simple Truth about the Pay Gap Over half a century after pay discrimination became illegal in the United States, a persistent pay gap between men and women continues to hurt our nation’s workers and our national economy.

In some ways, the gender pay gap is still current because of the way society learns things and holds on to that 'curriculum'. For example, we could suggest that the social learning theory has a little to do with why the gender pay gap is still a gap. Now, the social learning theory is described as a theory of learning process and social behaviors through the observation of other individuals. Because women didn't start at the top, that's why it feels to some that women don't belong at the top or even equal with the top and this feeling comes from social learning theory because it's what society was taught early on. From the beginning of time women were seen as child holders, wives, maids and servants, so in a way it is understandable why it has been so difficult for women to overcome the stereotype that hangs over their head and because of this, gender pay gap is still present.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/03/24/482141/quick-facts-gender-wage-gap/

Quick Facts About the Gender Wage Gap - Center for American Progress This fact sheet defines the gender wage gap, identifies what drives it, and quantifies its impact on women and their families.

Attribution theory is a theory that is supposed that one attempts to understand the behavior of others by attributing feelings to them. In the Oxford handbook of job loss, Feldman (in 2011) recommended “that future research could test attribution theory as a basis for explaining why women and minorities may attribute their lower status to discrimination.” Did you know that to this day in 2020, women are earning 81 cents to every dollar a man is earning? We're going to focus on gender specifically, but I'd like to note that race is also a huge factor in pay gaps and I want to acknowledge that women of color generally get paid even less compared to a white man. Furthermore, the gender pay gap is just another gap in this country's unity that needs to be patched up with equality. Looking over PayScale's compensation data from 2015 to 2020, it indicates that since 2015, the gender pay gap has risen from 74 cents to 81 cents, 7 cents in 5 years, yet still no equal pay. Again, it may not seem like women are losing too much pay but there's many cases of women not being able to financially support themselves as comfortably as one should when retiring because of the lost wages. The most commonly used reason for women being paid less than men is because some time during their career, women sometimes take a break to have a baby. Think about if there's a woman who ends up being a single mom and because she gets paid less than her peers, she's not making enough to cover childcare and this makes her even more unavailable for her job and possibly resulting in her losing the position.Now, if we were to close that gap and make it a world mission to end the gender pay gap, we wouldn't be putting women in such a tough spot just because of inequalities that are there because of traditional outdated thinking. Think about how many other gaps we could close if we started with the gender pay gap. Companies shouldn't hire people that they can't afford. The biggest help would be a law being implemented on this issue.

Women have generally been paid less then men, even working in the same position with the same experience. Why is this okay? It's not, but since the dawn of time women have had to fight for their place at the table. Women weren't allowed to do any type of job other than house work for a long time and women weren't allowed to vote till much after men. Women fought so hard for rights, yet in the 21st century women still aren't seen as equals, especially on paper. Common excuses for paying women less are: "Women use the bathroom more." "Women can't focus fully on the job if they have a family to take care of." "Women want maternity leave." The worst part is it may not seem like companies are paying women that much less, but in reality, women struggle to support themselves come retirement because of the wages they lost over the years compared to a man making more wages in the same position getting the right amount of money for his retirement. Women deserve more!

https://www.striking-women.org/module/workplace-issues-past-and-present/gender-pay-gap-and-struggle-equal-pay

Gender pay gap and the struggle for equal pay | Striking Women [no-lexicon]Gender pay gap[/no-lexicon] is the difference between male and female wages. This is expressed as a percentage of male earnings. The gender pay gap reduces women’s lifetime earnings and affects their pensions causing poverty for women in later life. The Office for National Statistics c...