While gender pay gap has always been a prevalent issue in our society, women are still fighting against it. Feminist movements, such as the Women’s March, have advocated for equality, especially for the pay gap between men and women. In fact, according to Pew Research, women make roughly 82 percent of what men make for the same job.
The lower pay for women is especially concerning for single mothers who are the breadwinners of their family. “For me, personally, this issue of the gender pay gap shows the ways in which patriarchy sustains these gender roles that both women and men are expected to fulfill. Paying a man more is just abiding by an assumption that he is the breadwinner for the family,” says Nicola Tran, ’19, vice president of North Central’s Feminist Club.
According to the National Women’s Law Center, 42 percent of the workforce are women who are the breadwinners of the family. Due to the low wages, it “leave(s) families below or dangerously close to the poverty line.”
Grant Tuider, ’19, a member of the College Republicans on North Central’s campus, agrees that the pay gap can be a slippery slope in today’s economic and social climate. Parents of both genders, whether it be single parents or otherwise, are working full-time to support their families. Times have changed, but the obvious gap between men and women’s salaries have not.
Simply put, the gap is discriminatory against women. Although men and women do have biological differences, “it is also an overused excuse, and it distracts us from the fact that women who often are over-qualified for a position are still paid less than men, or women who are in superior positions are still underpaid relative to their subordinates,” Tran added.
Women of color and different ethnic backgrounds are also suffering from the gap in pay. “If there’s a pay gap between men and women, there’s also a pay gap between women and women,” says Andrea Heiden, ’20, president of North Central’s College Democrats. Gender pay gap does not just exist between men and women, but between white women and women of color.
The American Association of University Women states that the largest pay gap is between Hispanic women and white men. Hispanic women make only 54 percent of what white men make. Tran adds that “the intersection of race and gender puts women of color at much more of a downtrodden position.”
While progress has certainly been made throughout the years in terms of equality for men and women, the pay gap is still a concerning issue in society. Men are still earning more than women for the same job. It will still take some time before women are earning equal to what their male counterparts are making. “World Economic Forum estimates that it will take up to 170 years for the world’s women to earn wages that are equitable to men’s,” The Guardian reported.
“It is very difficult to survive in modern society if parents aren’t making enough,” said Tuider. We live in a society where most of what’s needed for survival comes from money, and with the pay gaps for women still large, it is becoming difficult for some women.
Heiden finds it concerning, with the current political climate and so much happening, that the pay gap gets lost in the chaos of other issues plaguing the United States. “People don’t always realize this is a big issue,” she said.
Tran is studying at North Central from the United Kingdom and finds the pay gap to be a monumental problem, not just in the United States, but nearly everywhere in the world. “For a country that prides itself on innovation and progress, and presents itself as a model nation on the international level, it is bemusing that this country, as well as my own, has not yet managed to configure a solution to this problem,” she said.
However, small steps are being made. Some companies are working on closing the pay gap between men and women. In 2016, according to research by The Guardian, President Barack Obama issued the Equal Pay Pledge. This focused on American companies committing to paying the same salaries of both genders. With the pledge written into law, more than 50 major companies, Apple and Target among them, signed it.
Some companies are even offering services such as child care, said Tran.
In a society that focuses on progression and equality, it is time for men and women of the same qualifications to be paid the same amount.
