Gender Wage Gap: Monumental Issue or Myth?
This past Tuesday (April 12th) was declared by President Obama as Equal Pay Day in the United States. A day that supposedly a woman’s yearly income would finally (4 months into 2016) match that of a man’s in 2015. Obama and The White House have been brining much attention to this issue over the past months proposing and emphasizing past bills such as Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Even with all this attention on a wage gap, is there really an issue? Or is it all a myth?
According to an article in Forbs Magazine there is a statement that says:
the White House and others who promote the myth are manipulating statistics in a way to convince women that they are the victims of systematic societal discrimination, and, therefore, stand to benefit from further government action.
Explaining that the gap is not from equal jobs that are not paying fairly, but due to job choices women choose to take as opposed to men. Also there is a speech that was given by a Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin explaining how the main issue is the struggle women have obtaining a job post maternity leave, not equal pay. Myth or not proper payment to women has been a topic of discussion in economics since Equal Pay Act of 1963 was introduced. Because women, who make up one half of the US labor force have a huge influence on the economy (working or shopping).
Women being in the work force and being paid fairly myth to the wage gap or not are a huge asset to companies for many different reasons. As stated by The European Commission’s Directorate General for Justice and Consumer hiring women will:
recruit and retain the best employees;
create a positive work environment and gain the confidence of their employees;
make the best use of human resources and improve productivity and competitiveness;
have a better public image and higher shareholder value and awider and more satisfied customer base.
All in all employers need to look at the big picture for women, because they are an asset to a country’s economy. With many people believing there is a real issue of sexism within the work force with unequal pay it is not a topic to take lightly, myth or not.
