Gender wage gap continues to persist in the United States and many other countries across the globe. Female employees are being paid less compared to their male colleagues despite having the same qualifications in terms of educational achievement and expertise. The first step to fixing this problem is gaining insight into the root cause of the problem. Gender wage gap has been associated with discrimination in the workplace as employers favor male employees at the expense of the female ones. Cultural bias also plays a key role in the prevalence of gender wage gap. For instance, men use masculine qualities such as assertiveness and aggressiveness to push for better pay. However, women are perceived as being ‘too aggressive’ and inappropriate when they try to use the same characteristics for a salary increment. Other social factors such as family duties also contribute to gender wage gap as women have to take care of families at the expense of their jobs and career advancement.
The first potential solution to the gender wage gap is the implementation of state laws that seek to eliminate institutional practices that enhance the persistence of the gender wage gap. According to Coghlan and Hinkey (2018), many organizations are contributing to the prevalence of gender wage gap by maintaining practices that are discriminatory or oppressive in nature. For instance, some companies have prohibited employees from discussing their earnings. This act of pay secrecy promotes gender wage gap in that the female employees are unaware that they are being paid less than their male colleagues (Colella et al., 2007). It is a deliberate effort by the organization to prevent the female employees from raising complains about pay inequality or pushing for increment. Another practice that promotes unfair wages between ladies and gentle is the inquiry about one’s previous salary during the hiring process. Generally, women are given less salary than men in most occupations. The practice of inquiring about one’s previous earnings ensures that the practice of women being paid less continues since one's salary will be set depending on their previous one. There is no likelihood that organizations will take a deliberate effort to terminate these practices and implement others that are likely to minimize the gender wage gap. Therefore, the state needs to intervene through legislative mechanisms that can terminate these practices.
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Research shows that legislative intervention has previously succeeded in minimizing the gender wage gap. Kim (2015), conducted a research that compared the status of the gender wage gap in states that had prohibited pay secrecy and those that had not. The results indicated a twelve to fifteen percent decrease in the gender wage gap in the states that had prohibited pay secrecy in organizations. Therefore, government intervention is an effective solution for addressing the gender wage gap. Coghlan and Hinkey argue that the federal or states governments are capable of minimizing the gender wage gap by pushing for transparency in organizations. This transparency is to be achieved by enacting states laws that eliminating practices such as pay secrecy and inquiry of previous salaries.
The second potential solution to solving the gender wage gap is eliminating the salary negotiation process in organizations. Research shows that this process is affected by discrimination and existing stereotypes about women. Kennedy and Kray (2015) argue that the success of salary negotiations is dependent on qualities such as competition, strength and assertiveness. Unfortunately, these qualities are associated and considered culturally acceptable for men. Therefore, male employees are in a position to use these persuasive techniques to acquire better pay. These qualities, on the other hand, are considered culturally inappropriate for women. For instance, a woman who portrays strength and assertiveness during the hiring process is perceived as ‘too aggressive’ hence considered inappropriate for the position. To prevent this scenario, women tend to be less assertive during salary negotiations. As a result, they end up being paid less than their male counterparts (Kray& Gelfand, 2009; Market Inspector, 2018). Therefore, it is evident that salary negotiation is one of the major factors that are contributing to the persistence of the gender wage gap due to gender stereotypes that inhibits a woman’s ability to negotiate. Organizations should resolve this problem by eliminating the process of salary negotiation. Instead, salaries should be standardized such that a person’s earnings depend on their position and qualification irrespective of their gender. This technique will help to minimize the gender wage gap in these organizations and the United States in general.
In conclusion, it is evident that the gender wage gap is an issue that calls for quick action. It’s a form of discrimination that inhibits the economy, the women and the society in general. Gender wage gap poses a huge problem since it is based on gender stereotypes that are socially constructed. Therefore, organizations are not capable of eliminating the issue of gender wage gap on their own. The solution to this problem is a collective action between the society, the government and all the other organizations and institutions. The government as the overall figure of authority ought to intervene through legislative actions that seek to promote transparency and get rid of practices that are discriminatory in nature. The organizations, on the other hand, should contribute to the elimination of the gender wage gap by getting rid of practices such as salary negotiation that favors men at the expense of women during salary negotiations.
References
Coghlan, E. & Hinkley, S. (2018). State policy strategies for narrowing the gender wage gap. Retrieved November 15 2018, from http://ww.irle.berkeley.edu
Colella, A., Paetzold, R., Zardkoohi, A. & Wesson, M. (2007). Exposing pay secrecy. Academy of Management Review , 32 (1), 55-71.
Kennedy, J. & Kray, L. (2015). A pawn in someone else’s game? The cognitive, motivational, and paradigmatic barriers to women’s excelling in negotiation. Research in Organizational Behavior , 3, 3-28.
Kim, M. (2015). Pay secrecy and the gender wage gap in the United States. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society , 54 (4), 648-667.
Kray, J., & Gelfand, M. (2009). Relief versus regret: The effect of gender and negotiating norm ambiguity on reactions to having one’s first offer accepted. Social Cognition , 27, 418-436.
Market Inspector. (2018). How to reduce gender pay gap in 7 steps. Retrieved November 15 2018, from https://www.market-inspector.co.uk
