Closing the gender pay gap in America and across the globe seems to be an elusive objective. Even though the women's behaviour has changed dramatically over the years, the gender pay gap persists. Women are now highly educated, are a critical part of the workforce, and they bring the expertise. The woman is highly diversified in the courses they take at the colleges and universities. Women are now running their homes as dual breadwinners, and they are part of the trade unions and are as experienced as men. In America today, women who hold full-time all-year-round jobs, on average, earn 20% below their male counterparts, which is equivalent to 80.5cents on the dollar (De Hoyos, Bussolo, & Núñezm, 2012). Even though there is some progress in the declining wage gap, it is slow, and it is projected that at the present rate, American women will remain discriminated in terms of wage equality until 2016.
Wage difference can be defined as the difference in salaries or wages between people who have the same skill levels within different industries and localities. The wage differential is usually referred to when discussing the risk exposure of a particular job (Guryan & Charles, 2013). For instance, when a job description demands that individual works in a hazardous chemical condition, then this job may call that the person is paid higher wages in comparison to other tasks that do not demand that a person gets in contact with chemicals. There are also wage differentials in terms of geography, where people with the same job description are paid a different amount of wages based on their residential locations and the precise location.
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The top 1% of the American population controls 38.6% of American wealth, as indicated by the 2016 Federal Reserve Report. It is interesting that 90% of the American people only holds 22.8% of this wealth. This disparity is a major concern for society. The statistics are basically an income below the Federal government poverty level. And these are the small families taking on jobs like cashiers. The United States gender wage gap in the weekly salaries for the full-time employees was reported to have remained stagnant for the period 2016-2017. The women to men ratio for 2017 median full-time weekly wage was 81.8%, 0.1% decline points from the year 2-16. The discrimination brought forth a wage gap of 18.2%, which is almost the same as the recorded wage gap in 2016 of 18.2%. In 2017, the median weekly wages for women full-time work were recorded at $770 compared to $941 for men in the same year. When adjusted for inflation, 2016, the women-men earnings jumped by the same figure 0.7%. Another important measure for the 2016 men and women full-time earnings median yearly wages for the all-year-round employees was 80.5%. An 80.5% earnings ratio implies that the gender gap for the full-time annual workers was 19.5%.
The Federal Laws prohibit employers, employment agencies, and labour organizations from discrimination at the place of work. The Federal Laws against job discrimination include the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) ( Jurajda, 2005) . EPA protects workers, both male, and female who performs equal work in the same environment from discrimination based on their sexes in regards to wages. The ADEA of 1967 is another Federal Government law protecting persons aged 40 and above from discrimination regarding payment. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 provides monetary compensation and damages in case of employment discrimination (Gregory, 2001). The ADEA was passed in 1967 by Congress, and it highlights the weaknesses of the disadvantaged aged employees in retaining their employment or regaining employment after being displaced from work by their employers. Initially, when ADEA got enacted, it provided for the enforcement and administration by the Secretary of Labor. Due to a reorganization was done in 1978, the Secretary of Labor powers got transferred to the. The EEOC has the authority to issue rules and to give directions and reasonable exemptions from ADEA where they deem appropriate for the public interest. The EEOC regulations exist in the Code of Federal Regulations beginning at 29 CFR 1625.
The EPA of 1963 is a federal government regulation that is primarily used in America to call for equal remuneration for equal jobs. While this law has had some useful milestone in helping to bridge the gender pay gap in America, it is not working perfectly enough to promote equal/same opportunities for women in terms of payment at the workplace. The EPA policy illegalized the Act of American employers paying male more than the female counterparts for performing the same kind of job, and 50 years down the line gender pay gap persists.
The EPA
EPA policy makes it illegal for the employer to pay different amounts of wages to persons, men, and women, in case they perform the same kinds of jobs. EPA also protects workers from being retaliated on by their employers for complaining against discrimination, taking part in an employment lawsuit or discrimination lawsuit (Simon, & Way, 2016).
EPA requires that workers in the same job environment be remunerated equal pay for an equal amount of work. Accomplished jobs have to be identical. The jobs must also be substantially equal. This law also covers all kinds of remuneration, including bonuses, salary overtime payment, bonus plans, profit sharing and stock options, hotel accommodations, life insurance, and benefits, amongst others. In cases where inequality of payment in the wages exists, then the employer does not have permission to reduce the salary of either male or female employees to make the salaries equal.
It is unlawful for a boss to discriminate a servant against a worker regarding employee benefits or payment of wages based on colour, race, sex, religion, age, nationality, or disability of any kind. The employee benefits may encompass vacation leave, sick leave, access to overtime payment, and the retirement benefits of the employee.
Problem with EPA
EPA made it illegal for American employers to pay male more than the female counterparts for performing the same kind of job, and several decades after and the gender wage gap still remains. The answer to the existing gap lies in EPA significantly minimizing its effectiveness and the ease with which the employers exploit it. EPA was enacted to prohibit sexual discrimination in terms of wages, calling for the employers to remunerate similar wage rates to both genders doing equal work on the job, and jobs that call for equal effort and risk. EPA work also involves ensuring equal responsibility and tasks that get done in similar working conditions get equal pay.
However, EPA allows for men to be paid greater wages compared to their female counterparts in regards to the level of productivity, merit and seniority and a differential dependent on any other factor besides sex ( Petersen & Morgan, 1995) . This is ideally a vague language used on EPA act and it makes it difficult for the female workers to give proof that they are being remunerated lower than their male counterparts due to their gender and prevents many women from even filing a lawsuit.
Additionally, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 barely punishes the employers guilty of the violation of the equal pay act. The employers are only forced to pay two years of retroactive salary to the plaintiff, which is just a slight slap on the wrist for the bigger companies. The punishments are small, and this makes employers violate the law at will ( Galuscak et al., 2012) .
Here are the main recommendations for reducing the female/male Pay Gap in the US:
Interagency Coordination : In January 2010, President Obama, during the State of Union talk, promised to wedge a fight on the violation of equal pay laws to allow women to begin enjoying equal payment. To implement the pledge, the Federal government announced for the creation of the National Equal Pay Taskforce, which constituted the main federal agencies that took part in enforcing the American salary discrimination regulations (Lang & Lehmann, 2012). The body brought under one table the resources and expertise of the four federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, EEOC, the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Labor. Together, these authority bodies have rules and jurisdiction over numerous federal employment laws that protect American private and public sector workers. However, since 2010, everything seems to have remained the same. There is no proper coordination between the government agencies towards the implementation of the EPA and related gender gap policies. Each of these federal agencies has its responsibility in terms of enforcing equal pay under unique laws and regulations. Lack of coordination amongst these agencies leaves out some gaps that are exploited by the employers and the conglomerates.
Public Education and Outreach : both the boss and workers do not have the appropriate information regarding the gender wage gap, their respective responsibilities, and legal rights. The responsible agencies, including EEOC and federal government departments, need to increase their effort in creating materials for informing the employers and employees of the appropriate information and have training programs for the same ( Marini, 1989) .
Paycheck Fairness Act passage : Strengthening the current laws that deal with unequal pay through more legislation. The adoption of the Act could address loopholes in EPA.
For decades, the woman has belonged to the kitchen. She is known for caring for their children, and have stayed away from ‘men’ jobs. The modern western world has significantly changed this, and the woman can now go to school, find a good and earn their living. However, somehow the woman has been discriminated at the place of work. The woman is paid less than men even for an equal amount of work and experience. Many regulations have been put in place to help the woman remain equal to the man in terms of their salaries. However, sometimes even the policies fail to work. It has to be noted that equality for women is a continual fight, and for the woman to be truly equal to their counterparts at the place of work, every authority and every regulation has to be implemented. The woman has to be at the forefront of fighting for her rights.
References
De Hoyos, R. E., Bussolo, M., & Núñez, O. (2012). Exports, Gender Wage Gaps, and Poverty in Honduras. Oxford Development Studies , 40(4), 533–551. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2012.732562
Galuscak, K., Keeney, M., Nicolitsas, D., Smets, F., Strzelecki, P., & Vodopivec, M. (2012). The determination of wages of newly hired employees: Survey evidence on internal versus external factors. Labour Economics , 19 (5), 802-812.
Guryan, J., & Charles, K., (2013). Taste-based or statistical discrimination: The economics of discrimination returns to its roots. The Economic Journal, vol. 123, no. 572, pp. F417-F432.
Jurajda, Ŝ. (2005). Gender segregation and wage gap: An east-west comparison. Journal of the European Economic Association , 3 (2-3), 598-607.
Lang, K., & Lehmann, J. (2012). Racial discrimination in the labor market: Theory and empirics. Journal of Economic Literature , vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 959-1006.
Marini, M. M. (1989). Sex differences in earnings in the United States. Annual review of sociology , 15 (1), 343-380.
Petersen, T., & Morgan, L. A. (1995). Separate and unequal: Occupation-establishment sex segregation and the gender wage gap. American Journal of Sociology , 101 (2), 329-365.
Simon, J. K., & Way, M. M. (2016). Why the gap? Determinants of self-employment earnings differentials for male and female millennials in the US. Journal of Family and Economic Issues , 37 (2), 297-312.
