According
to the department of Labor, Women make up fewer than 50% of the workforce as of
2012. However, this number has been increasing since the 1970’s. Women are
gaining more representation in the work force, but this representation is
generally in the lower paying fields. As of 2012, the top three jobs for women
are secretaries, nurses, and cashiers, with only secretaries and nursing being
female dominated. Managerial related jobs are currently ranked at number 11 and
are still considered male dominated. This is shown in the median weekly income
of both men and women who are currently working as managers. Women make just
over $1,000 a week while males earn around $1,400 weekly. While this may seem
like a pretty small margin between prices, over a year it adds up to a
difference of $20,800 (Women’s Bureau).
Looking at some of the different
reasons why this could be, I had difficulty finding any hard evidence. It could
have been from not having as much education, but as of 2012, more working women
have completed a college education than working men have. 34.6% of men have
graduated college, while 38% of women have. Also, the unemployment rate for
women has been dropping and is actually lower than that for men, showing that
women are less likely to be fired or laid off. There are even laws out there
that prohibit paying one person less than another based on their gender.
The equal pay act of 1963 states that No
employer, labor organization, etc. can discriminate against an employee/member
based on their gender. In section 206 they actually state “No employer having employees subject to any
provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in
which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by
paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at
which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for
equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and
responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions,
except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a
merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of
production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex…
(Pg. 1)” This states simply that one
gender should not be paid more than another gender when doing the same jobs and
not receiving extra money based on merit or quantity of product produced, so in
the case of a business manager, both a male and a female manager should be paid
at the same starting rate.
It is
nearly impossible to decide whether or not a person is going to be good at
business just by looking at their gender. According to Kirdahy, “men are more apt to zone out in a meeting since
their brains are designed to enter a “rest state” more easily than women. In
that same meeting, women may run off topic before returning to the task at hand
because they’re born multi-taskers.” Neither gender is actually perfect a
business. We all have our flaws and things that we are not good at. Women are
generally better at noticing small changes in a person’s face. This
characteristic can be used nicely when trying to negotiate. The example that
Kirdahy used was a man a women negotiating team. The men on the team were
unable to notice that the CFO’s needed more information while the woman was
able to. They didn’t listen to her and actually lost the deal. This just shows
that neither of the gender s should be ranked higher or looked higher upon when
hiring. We both can bring something to the table that can help the company out
in the long run. If that’s the case, why is it that women are still
getting treated unfairly at work? The answer to that lies in the sociological
issues surrounding it.
In the
past it was a norm for women to stay home and take care of the house and
children. They cooked, cleaned, did the laundry, and handled all child care and
all other household chores. They were expected to do all this and still have
dinner ready so they could greet their tired husband at the door with a kiss
when he got home from work. This norm was rarely fought. Women and men just
accepted that it was the way things had to be. As time went on, more women
wanted to get out and do things. They were no longer satisfied with pleasing
their husbands. They wanted to get out and explore the world on their own.
Girls began going to school and then moving on to higher education. They began
searching for jobs and testing the boundaries of that gender norm. While some
people went along with this idea, others still feel like the norm should be
women staying at home. That is one of
the main sociological reasons that women are not paid as much. Generally the
higher ranking people in a business setting (CEOs, CFOs, etc.) are older. They
may have come from the generation raised to believe that a woman’s place is in
the kitchen. They have a harder time getting used to the new norms.
Besides
norms trying to keep women in place, we also have social institutions that are
trying as well. While watching any TV show, chances are you will a women
playing the role of housewife and keeping everything in order or even being the
damsel in distress. Beginning as children, we are exposed to not only the idea
that women are housewives, but also that women need to be saved. Everything
from video games to princess shows depicts women as weaklings. One example of
this is the Mario series. As girls, we look towards princess peach and think
she is the best character. However, that only lasts until the first time she
gets captured by Bowser and requires the help of Mario and Luigi to save her.
In my time of playing these games, I have only seen maybe one game where peach
takes center stage and controls the game. For the most part, she is the damsel
in distress. In sleeping beauty, we see a young princess whose curiosity got
the better of her. She pricks her finger and is thrust into an eternal sleep
until her true love comes to wake her up. Again, we see the male figure as the
hero.
By this
point you may be thinking “why does this even matter?” Well, it plays a big
role in how women view themselves. This is called the looking glass self. We
often see ourselves as we feel others see us. So for a woman in business, she
may begin to feel like she is not as good as her male counterparts because that
is how she thinks her coworkers think of her. In a recent study, “…Roughly half
of Millennial women (51%) and their older counterparts (55%) say society favors
men over women; just 6% of both groups say it favors women over men (Pew
Research, Pg.1) .” This study goes on to talk about how not as many women are
even aspiring to be in high management positions. This is related to the
looking glass self. If women look out and think that they won’t be able to make
it up as high on the corporate ladder, then they are not going to be able to.
In my opinion, it will take a lot of work to continue to bring equality to
the workplace for both me and women. We need to continue to show women in a
higher light and less as damsels in distress and teach our daughters to want to
do the best they can and be the best workers possible. We need to train our
employers and people who are looking to hire others to base their decisions on
whether or not a person meets the qualifications of the job rather than whether
they are male or female. The last thing we can do as women is always demand the
best. If we give in to pressure, or begin to see ourselves as weak, we will
never get anywhere close to equality. We have to be able to stand up and say “I
can do that job just as well as any man could.” That requires us to change our
self-image and see ourselves as strong individuals.
Like with women as managers, women in science are also getting
discriminated against. But in the article, Science
faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students, it states, “we are not
suggesting that these biases are intentional or stem from a conscious desire to
impede the progress of women in science. Past studies indicate that people’s
behavior is shaped by implicit or unintended biases, stemming from repeated
exposure to pervasive cultural stereotypes (14) that portray women as less
competent but simultaneously emphasize their warmth and likeability compared
with men (15)(Pg.1).” We have it sort of programmed in our brains from society
that we know what both genders are capable of. That goes back to our ideas that
women are meant to stay home and cook or clean and men are better at working.
Whether we genuinely want to keep women out of the work force or even if we don’t,
we still have that subconscious thought in our mind that makes us hesitate with
hiring them. In order to change this aspect, we have to change how we view the
genders and work on changing that idea.
We have already seen some of this
change happening in the media today. While we do see many things in the media
that depict women as the weaker gender, we also see strong women as well. Look
at Mulan for example. She goes into war in a time when only men were drafted.
She turns out to be one of the smartest, strongest soldiers that China has ever
had. She proved to little girls everywhere that even if people are saying you
can’t, you still can go out and prove them wrong. We also have Doc McStuffins
out on Disney channel right now. Dottie “Doc” Mcstuffins who wants to be a
doctor like her mother. She plays doctor with her stuffed toys and her friends’
toys, fixing them up and making things better. This shows girls from a young
age that they don’t just have to stay home. They are able to do whatever they
want.
In conclusion, women who are business managers generally make about $20,800
less than males in the same field ever year. This is mainly due to the fact
that women are not seen as managers. They have this image around them that
makes men believe that they should be housewives and take care of the kids
rather than be working in a field such as business. We have the social norms
from the past as well as media and video games to thank for that. Even though
we do have the negative side of showing women as weak, we still have the strong
portraying of women also and are beginning to air more shows that make young
girls want to achieve greatness. This is a very important topic that we all
should pay close attention to because for one thing it is illegal to underpay a
worker based on their gender alone. Society as a whole can help to improve this
issue, but it will definitely take some time and work to get things to finally
be equal.
Sources:
Dwoskin, Elizabeth, and Peter Coy.
"Shortchanged: Why Women Get Paid Less Than Men." Bloomberg
Businessweek. N.p., 21 June 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-21/equal-pay-plaintiffs-burden-of-proof>.
Matthew, Kirdahy. Women Vs. Men:
Who's Better At Business?. Forbes.com, 28 May 2008. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.forbes.com/2008/05/28/gender-strategy-behavior-lead-manage-cx_mk_0528sexes.html>.
Moss-Racusin, Corinne A., John F.
Dovidio, Victoria L. Brescoll, Mark J. Graham, and Jo Handelsman. "Science
faculty’s subtle gender biases favor." PNS. Ed. Shirley Tilghman.
Princeton University, 2 July 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
"On Pay Gap, Millennial Women
Near Parity – For Now ." PewResearch Social and Demographic Trends.
N.p., 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/12/11/on-pay-gap-millennial-women-near-parity-for-now/>.
"The Equal Pay Act of 1963."
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. USA.gov, n.d. Web. 9 Dec.
2013. <http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm>.
Women's Bureau, . United States
Department of Labor. N.p., Aug. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. <http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/stats_data.htm>.
