While substantial progress has been made to address the wide gender gap that exists for jobs between men and women, it continues to pose a threat towards creating equality between both genders insofar as equal pay is concerned.
Despite what most media pundits will have you believe, women continue to earn less than what their male counterpart earns – to be precise, women earn 79 cents for every dollar a man earns – and the annual earnings for women are $10,000 less than that of men. This was published in a report released by the Senate Joint Economic Committee Democratic Staff in April 2017.
While this is in obvious disagreement with the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which stipulates that wage disparity based on sex is to be abolished, the data generated by independent reports suggests otherwise.
The gender gap also seems to be a regional condition and varies from state to state. In Louisiana, the gender pay gap is 34.7%. Washington DC currently has the smallest pay gap at 10.4% which puts it in a slightly better position than the rest. Another disturbing trend shows that the gender wage gap further widens when it comes to women from different ethnic backgrounds.
The ethnicity gap
Black and Hispanic women seem to suffer from the worst of it, while Asian women face the smallest wage gap, earning 84% of what men earn. The next statistically friendly figure goes to white women who earn 75% of what men earn.
All these statistics paint a rather dark, grim picture for women whose roles have become stereotyped and at times, overly presented in temporary and part time jobs – most of which are low productivity jobs with low pay and often times, no benefits. This means that despite over 50 years after the Equal Pay Act was instituted in the labor laws of the United States, analysts speculate that it will take yet another 80 years before this far flung gap is sealed for the better.
At top management positions, women don’t fare any better – on a global scale – they only account for about 24% of them. Even the highest rate in North America amounts to only 15% women up the corporate ladder.
The gender gaps hurt everyone
But this is the most interesting fact to share; the gender gap doesn’t just affect and marginalize women. It has far reaching consequences on virtually every facet of society. It is obvious to assume that healthier and more educated women with greater access to financial resources are likelier to have healthier and more educated children. This contributes to society in a virtuous circle of everlasting development.
Contrast this to women in relatively impoverished, marginalized or less-educated societies, and you perpetuate a vicious cycle of everlasting disparity in economic competitiveness.
Aside from the obvious health benefits to society, companies which have more women in top management and board positions by nature propel the image of their company in a positive light to the world at large. And this, according to a CSRI study, necessarily translates to higher returns on equity, higher payouts and more importantly, a higher bottom line – a win-win situation for all involved.
