Gender Wage Gap and Racial Wealth Gap
I have had conversations with my mom about her job and the pay differences among her coworkers. My mom is a product manager at a tech company, and she talks about how she gets paid less than male product managers and even the men that work below her. She even talks about how she does more work than her male coworkers.
The gender wage gap is the difference between the average amount of money earned by men and women. It is common for males who work full time to earn more than females who work full time. There have been several congressional efforts to close the gap, but wage discrimination still exists. Wage differences happen in any industry and occupation. There have been more women in higher-paying jobs, but there needs to be more access to those jobs and an increase in pay for women who are already in those positions. There have been pay secrecy rules in some workplaces that prohibit workers from sharing their salaries, which is worrying because women might be unaware that they are being paid less. A way that people could get involved in the issue is to share the amount of money they are getting paid with each other so everyone can be aware of the differences in salaries and make a change, like demanding equal pay or even creating unions.
This relates to the Explained episode on Netflix called Racial Wealth Gap. The racial wealth gap is the difference between the household wealth of the white family and the African-American family. Some of the stats state that the median white household’s wealth is $171,000 while the median black household’s is $17,600. That gap is still growing. The episode stated that “to this day, African-Americans make a lot less money than whites. They’re far more likely to be unemployed, and studies show employers still discriminate.” In today's time, wealth is measured by property. During the Great Depression, the FHA drew maps that segregated black families from white families to places where they would not insure loans for properties. People underestimate the power of property because it is where you live and determines the opportunities that are available in that community like high-paying jobs, education, and safety.
Both the gender wage gap and the racial wealth gap show the discrimination between gender and race when it comes to wealth and wages. You also have to consider the intersections of race and gender as well. More people need to fight for the closing of both the gender wage gap and the racial wealth gap because why should there be allowed such a big difference between them?
