Yesterday (Tues 4/8) was Equal Pay Day, a day dedicated to reflection on the gender wage gap. President Obama signed a new executive order into place yesterday assisting women in getting information from federal contractors on pay rates and protecting women during conversations about pay.Some have even discussed the gender wage gap as not only a women's issue, but a "family issue" as it relates to children, education, and social class.
This blog on the US Dept of Labor even cites Joan Holloway (a lead character in Mad Men!), relating today's gender issues in the workplace to those in the 1960's.
Read the above articles and think about what Equal Pay Day means for you. Do some brief research on your future career (if you know what you plan to pursue) or on a career of interest to you. Link to articles or webpages that provide salary statistics for the career. What are men paid on average vs. women? What are your reactions?
Reflect on these questions and reply by 8am Thurs 4/10.
I am interested in a career in the film industry. For lower level workers, the median wage for women was $9.82 and the median wage for men was $10.49 for the same job. For actors and actresses, the highest paid woman actress was Angelina Jolie, making $33 million in 2013. While this is a lot, it is not even half the earnings of Robert Downey Jr. the highest earning actor in one year, coming in at $75 million. The top eight highest earners in 2013 were all men, with Angelina Jolie tying for ninth with Denzel Washington. This was extremely surprising to me especially since someone like Jennifer Lawrence is in higher grossing films than Dwayne Johnson, yet he made $20 million more than her in 2013. I also found it dismaying that the average age of the top grossing actresses was 34.8, while the average age for actors was 46.5, showing our society's ageism against older women.
ReplyDeletehttp://chronicle.com/article/aaup-survey-data-2013/138309#id=144050
ReplyDeleteOn this website, statistics show that male college professors are still being paid more than female college professors in 2013. On average, full-time male professors are paid $210,220 while women are being paid $179,300. This is a big difference between the salaries and it is crazy that this is still happening today, or that it ever did. Before looking at any statistics, I was expecting there to be a difference in the salaries, but not quite as big of a gap of this. It is $31,000 difference and no gender should be treated unfairly or differently because of their gender.
After reading the articles, I have formed my own definition of what Equal Pay Day means. For me, Equal Pay Day consists of of employees, of both gender and position, receiving their pay for work in an equal amount. Both men and women can be in the same workplace with the same positions earning the same amount of money. I am interested in a career in Marketing. The website below brings you to a webpage that tells you the statistics of being paid (male vs. female). On average men are paid 54,937 while women are paid 39,675. The website says there is a 15,000 pay gap between the average salaries of male and female marketers. I'm very shocked and confused to have found this out. Why if men and women have the same job position that men get paid more? This is very discriminating to women because a woman could be so much better than a man in this profession yet the man gets paid more.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marketingweek.co.uk/analysis/salary-survey-2014/salary-survey-2014-the-gender-gap-in-marketing-salaries/4009057.article
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/business/gender-gap-female-executive-compensation
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aauw.org/files/2013/03/Graduating-to-a-Pay-Gap-The-Earnings-of-Women-and-Men-One-Year-after-College-Graduation-Executive-Summary-and-Recommendations.pdf
I am interested in majoring in either economics or business. Although, It was hard to find a percent difference in income between males and females with economics, I found one for different business positions. In one article, women are paid 86% of what men are paid in business management jobs. In another article, a women in an executive director role are paid $1,018,107, while men in the same position are paid $1,443,607. The difference in pay is evident, and even though the gap has decreased over time, it is still current in today’s society. I still find it incredibly ridiculous that many people, men in particular, deny that there is no difference in pay between genders, even though statistics and ongoing research prove otherwise. I feel as though those who are against women’s equal pay so desperately try to prove that this gender gap doesn’t exist, yet in their minds they know the truth.
http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/101510/The-Value-of-Women-Journalists.aspx
ReplyDeleteI am interested in pursuing a career in the journalism field. The article that I found was written by a woman who was personally affected by the pay gap between male and female journalists. In 2000, female editors and reporters earned 90 percent of what males did, which led to female journalists having less personal financial power over men. This article suggests that if a woman starts her career at 21 and earns $35,000 and earns a 4% annual increase until she is 66, a man would have made $444,000 more than her while working the same amount of time with that 10% increase in his salary. I always knew that there unfortunately was still a salary gap today, but I never imagined it to be so much. Even though I was somewhat aware of the differences in salaries, it is something that I cannot wrap my head around. There is no explainable reason for a woman to be earning less than a man when they are completing the same job. There is no purpose for such an old fashion practice to still be going on when we claim to be such a modern and accepting society.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96643
ReplyDeleteI hope to be an Occupational Therapist, preferably a Speech Pathologist in the future. Contrary to what the gender pay gap usually is (men earning more than woman), woman earn more than men in this profession. This article says that women make an average of $39,312 — $7,384 more than male occupational therapists. 87% of occupational therapists are women. I was surprised to find out that this field overpowers men in the gender department. Even though it is the other way around, there is still a gender gap and a much bigger percentage of women in the field earning more money.
This is a great example of how statistics can be skewed. Since so many women are in this field, it makes sense that they would make more than men since they are outnumbering them. Good observation!
DeleteReading these articles, it's very frustrating knowing women who do the same jobs as men still do not get equal pay. It's 2014, times have changed an equal pay just makes more sense. Women have all the same as men, why not have equal pay? It economically makes more sense. Also some women are working mothers which means they raise a family along with working a job. This is a lot of work, and some single mothers need the money to support their families. I researched a layers income per week. A typical lawyer (male) makes 1,986 while the (female) layer makes 1,566. The gap is evident. The reason is still unclear: if women do the same jobs as men and work just as hard plus take care of a family why do they not get paid the same amount?
ReplyDeleteI feel that in this day in age, its completely ridiculous that men's and women's wages are not equal. It does not seem fair at all that women can work the same jobs, and perform just as well as men, yet get paid less SIMPLY because they are women. The fact that women have to worry about taking off from work to have a child is ridiculous. They should not have to worry about that at all, our wages system in America should be more understanding. In the case of single women, they need money to support themselves and family in some cases. They can't always do this if they are earning less money than everyone else. I looked up what they pay different between men and women for physical therapy jobs. 35% of males make more than $65,000 while only 11.75% of females make more than $65,000. From these results its clear to see their is a sex bias in this field as their is in many other job fields. It is not fair at all and needs to be changed.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.advanced-medical.net/physical-therapy/men-out-earn-women-in-physical-therapy/#sthash.syg3C1TT.dpuf
After reading these articles on the Equal Pay Idea, I think that it is frustrating and annoying that women do the same jobs as men but don't get equal payment opportunities as them. Women got their rights earned already in the past, and I don't get why unequal woman rights still exist! My future career is to be a Speech Language Pathologist and it is surprising to see that this is one in 39 jobs that woman get paid more than men!! :D According to CNN Money, Women make $45,136 in median earnings, and males make $35,048. Just about a 10,000 increase in pay more than males. However this is one of the few jobs that females get paid more than males. It is a shame that other jobs have unequal amount of pay going to males and females together because it is unjust.
ReplyDeletehttp://money.cnn.com/2006/02/28/commentary/everyday/sahadi_paytable/
After reading these articles on Equal Pay, it really frustrates me that women do not have the same pay that men do. I mean there have been tons of important inventions created by women that have sparked the new technology we used. Who knew a woman created a circular saw? Or invented the chocolate chip cookie? A woman created a dishwasher! So to me, it really frustrates me that men get paid more. I am looking to pursue a field in medicine, and its crazy to me how male doctors are automatically paid 50,000 dollars more than women. They are paid more because people believe they are more consistent in decisions and have gone through more schooling. You would think that the gender gap is getting better, but in medical fields its getting even worse. Within the last decade there has been a huge shift in the gender incomes. It is truly a shame that men get paid more simply because they are male. Women do just as good of a job and even better in some situations.
ReplyDeletehttp://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/10-things-that-women-invented.htm#page=8
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/03/female-doctors-earn-50k-less-than-male-doctors/
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ReplyDeleteI can still not fully grasp the concept of why women do not get paid as much as men. A women can be more qualified, a harder worker, and more determined yet in the same position as a male, a female still has a lower pay than the man. As everyone else has mentioned it is extremely frustrating and disappointing to know that in modern day women still do not have equal pay to men despite the advances we have made as a group. I am interested in pursuing a job in the field of engineering and after researching the statistics I discovered that women earn 25% less for their median salary than men! I believe this is absolutely absurd because I do not see why a women who can have the same qualifications and position as a man will get paid a median salary of $58,431 while men will receive a median salary of $79,755. As time progresses I believe will get closer to achieving our goal of Equal Pay for women.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livescience.com/39124-women-engineers-earn-less-than-men.html
I am interested in majoring in nursing. Although there are many more female nurses over male nurses, there still is evidence of male nurses receiving a higher pay than female nurses. In the article I found, it states that males only make up 10% of all nurses as of 2011. There is a graph shown comparing the pay of male and female nurses, and no matter what nursing field males always seems to have a higher income. Apparently, men earn 16% more than women do, making $60,700 while women make 51,100. I am very frustrated and angered by this. Women dominate the nursing field, so why should men get special treatment? It is unfair that some people receive a higher pay solely based on their gender. Women and men are both people and therefore have the same ability to perform well at a job. Women may be far harder and better workers than men, but they will never receive credit in their pay checks like men do.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/02/25/male-nurses-make-more-money/
I still think that it is unbelievable that at the point we are at in society that there is still inequality between the salaries of me and women. Pay should be based on the work ethic of the employee, not of of their gender. Women are just a capable as men are, so why is there still such an issue for equal pay. It's frustrating that women still have to fight for rights that should be a given in our modern time period. What makes a women any less than a man in the work place? I plan on pursuing a career in athletic training and it didn't occur to me until now that I am going to work harder than ever to get the position I want. Most sports are male dominated, so what is someone not to assume that their trainers are not just as male dominated? The typical salary varies between $35,000 and $75,000. It was difficult to find a website that broke it down by gender, but it has been shown that women in the hospitality and medicine field have been paid less due to the stereotypical look on how men can get a job done unlike women. In some or most situations, it most of the time is the women who shows out and does the job best, so why shouldn't her pay check reflect that?
ReplyDeletehttp://everydaylife.globalpost.com/pay-scale-athletic-trainer-master-19977.html
The fact that an equal pay day even has to exist is a bit pathetic if you ask me. Bynow society should be so far beyond pay inequality based on gender. I don't understand how one can justify paying a woman less than a man even though they work the same job. Theres no reasonable logic to it! If inequality is going to exist, then women should be payed more, especially those who also have to support a family. While i do not plan on becoming a professional athletes i was interested in the pay gap between male and female professional athletes. For example, the WNBA, the minimum salary is $31,200 but for the NBA the minimum salary is $385,277. This is the same sport, yet the men are given a much higher salary, and more attention. WE need even out this playing field in order to reach equality. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/en/home/research/articles-and-reports/equity-issues/pay-inequity
ReplyDeleteAfter reading these articles, I will admit that I was certainly more in favor of such a day than I thought I would be. Personally, it seems to me that making a "day" out of this is almost mocking the issue. However, after reading the articles, I was slightly more convinced. I suppose I always considered such blatant sexism to be a thing of the past. Of course, I have heard many people of my generation who petition for said "equal pay," but I never before realized that it was such a wide-spread issue and that the discrepancy was so large! I started to think about my family personally. My mother is the sole bread-winner of our household. If her pay were truly that unfair, I wonder what they lifestyle of our family would be like? Logically it would be very different, although the reasoning for this is illogical. I can see if women were in an inferior position in the workplace, but when men and women are exactly the same in qualifications and tasks, why wouldn't they have the same pay?!
ReplyDeleteI would eventually like to be a lawyer. After looking into some of the statistics, I was more shocked by the other numbers I found (such as percentages of female judgeships and females in the Fortune 500 General Counsels). I was glad to see that the pay range for females was between 86 and 92%...of course, this isn't 100, but it certainly isn't as low as it could be. I still can't fathom why two people in the exact same position would make different salaries...there is absolutely no basis for that! However, I was happy to see that these statistics weren't terrible. I hope that by the time I am entering the field, they will be almost at 100.
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-law-us
http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2011/01/cover-men.aspx
ReplyDeleteThe gender wage gap is growing significantly larger over the years. So much so that the president is speaking out about how women and men are really not considered equal in the workplace. I am interested in going into psychology, maybe the field of clinical psychology, but regardless, psychology salaries start at $61,168. This is actually an occupational field that women are drawn into because of the flexible schedule it provides. They do not have to run into many issues if their child is sick from school, and has to stay home for the day because they are able to schedule their clients when it is convenient and appropriate for them. Sometimes the field of psychology can be associated with a "women's job" for this purpose, but the rate of men working in this practice has grown significantly over the years. Although there remains a gender gap, I believe that psychology is one of the most equal occupations provided. It is good that our country is finally noticing the equality of women in the workplace, and are finally doing something about it.
It really annoys me that men still get paid more than women even when they do the exact same job. Although I do feel if we had to have an "equal pay day" its very pathetic. At this point men and women should get paid equally. I plan to become a Physical Therapist. In my research I found that men tend to be more self employed, hold supervisory positions, and men tend to have higher incomes. They have higher income even compared to women who have very similar employment characteristics. I still think its very pathetic that men and women in the physical therapy field are doing the same exact job and women are still getting paid less.
ReplyDeleteI hope to one day pursue a career in photography, a career I did not think had much a controversy when it came to salary for men and women and the gap between them. However, after reading the articles and doing my own research, I found it extremely disturbing how much women are deprived of their well-earned and well-deserved salary. I do not understand why there has to be a gap, especially today, when there are so many feminist movements and organizations and so many women with typically male-dominated jobs. I have known for a bit that women only make 77% of that of a man, but I did not know how much of a difference the extra 23% makes. In the article I found, the average male photographer makes about $25,751 full time, whereas the average woman makes about $18,379 full time; this is a 28.6% gap, which I think is completely unfair.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/08/international-womens-day-pay-gap
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ReplyDeleteI can't believe that men still make more money doing the same jobs that women do. Most would think that this way of thinking would be outdated by now and that something would have been done to end this inequality already. Next year I am going to start my college experience in the nursing program at whichever college that I choose. In the article that I found out that male nurses earned, on average, $60,700 a year, while women earned $51,100 per year. Being that I am going to be competing for a job in this field, it angers and upsets me that I will be paid significantly less than men when I will be doing the same thing that they are doing. Women even dominate this field so you would think that they would be paid more or at least the same as men. I am happy that the government is working on this issue and finally taking the steps to help women be more equal in terms of pay. Hopefully by the time I am working in a few years some of these issues will be resolved or at least made more equal.
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/male-nurses-becoming-more-commonplace-higher-paid-221330791.html
http://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/economy/2013/02/11/equal-pay-jobs/2.html
ReplyDeleteMany of the biological sciences, including biochemistry, actually have a very small gender gap in pay. Women make 98 cents to what a man makes. This is due to a historic tie between women and biological sciences. While this makes me really happy and reassured, it is not enough for me to be happy with my own fate knowing larger societal factors are acting against my gender as a whole. Even if there is this almost close equality, who knows what may happen. If we don't all actively champion for other's rights, we become weak and those in power can more easily take away what we have earned. That may sound a bit hyperbolic but the basic principles of Conflict theory apply even here. Also, I can say that in my personal life discovering random feminist thought on the Internet made a difference in the way I act and what I value.
I was shocked to discover that full-time working women only earn about 77% of their male counterparts’ earnings. I knew that men and women have never had equal pay, but I did not realize how significant the difference actually was. It's almost unfathomable that by the age of 65, a women has lost $431,000 over her working lifetime because of the earnings gap. I am going into musical theatre, which definitely does not have the steadiest income. Many people believe that musical theatre is more of a woman-dominated field; however, an overwhelming amount of men are getting jobs and seeing success just as much as women are. However, I could not find specific information if men are paid more than women. The minimum pay for actors on Broadway is $1,754 per week. Minimum rates increase every year according to the contract until its expiration. Ultimately, one's salary comes down to the role they are playing, how long the show will run, and how prestigious the theatre is. Musical theatre is not an easy field, especially when it comes down to getting cast in a show. I am noticing that more guys are getting cast in shows than women, which can contribute to the gap in gender equality.
ReplyDeleteThere is a great link that outlines more information about how much money musical theater performer can make: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/average-pay-broadway-actor-8371.html.
I cannot believe that this is still a reoccurrence during the 21st century. All men and women in the workforce should be deserved equal pay. We are living in a time where all races are treated equally, so why shouldn't men and women be payed equally? In the future what I would like to major in nursing as I get older. And nursing has become very competitive over the years. I researched that male nurses receive a higher pay than women do today. The nurse work force has always been mainly women but the male population continues to grow. Women working as full time nurses earned year around 91 cents for every dollar male nurses made. And women earned 77 cents to every dollar a male made for all occupations. IN 2011 male nurses on average earned $60,700 per year and female nurses on average earned $51,100 per year. That is a big gap between male and female nurses. I think that it is very upsetting to see that because I myself want to practice nursing. Male nurses are given higher pay because apparently there aren't many male nurses out there and the work force is looking for nurses who are higher skilled. Does this mean that they are suggesting that men are the ones who are highly skilled in the nursing profession? Absolutely not, females can do just about the same things any male nurse does. I agree with Obama that he agrees to make equal pay for men and women, I mean its only fair.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.minoritynurse.com/article/male-nurses-becoming-more-commonplace
It is shocking to me that their are severe equality problems in the world. Men and women should be treated equal and their is no reason for men and women to be treated differently. When I get older I am hoping to go into physical therapy and branch off from that. After researching the difference between men and women therapist occupations I found some interesting statistics. I found that men were more likely to be self-employed, men are more likely to hold supervisory positions, and men tended to have significantly higher incomes even when compared to women with similar characteristics of employment. This research of this study shows strong evidence that sex discrimination exists in the physical therapy profession. The difference in salary statistics show 16.42% of males made more than $100,000, and 6.81% of females made more than $100,000. Males overpower females in the physical therapy profession and inequality is shown throughout the research. This makes me wonder if I would make enough money that I aim to make as a career when I grow up. This is upsetting for me to see and I am hoping the statistics will turn around by the time I want to start my own career. I believe men and women should have equal pay if they are doing the same job and if they are equally successful.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.advanced-medical.net/physical-therapy/men-out-earn-women-in-physical-therapy/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/472025
I just don't understand why this is still going on. Just because we are a different gender, doesn't mean we deserve less pay or less jobs. Males make more (obviously) and tend to hold extremely high jobs like doctors, CEO, etc. I don't get why women can't have that too. Also, gender isn't even the one thing holding people back. Race places a part as well STILL.
ReplyDeleteLike in the article above " Full-time women workers’ earnings are only about 77 percent of their male counterparts’ earnings. The pay gap is even greater for African-American and Latina women, with African-American women earning 64 cents and Latina women earning 56 cents for every dollar earned by a Caucasian man. Decades of research shows that no matter how you evaluate the data, there remains a pay gap — even after factoring in the kind of work people do, or qualifications such as education and experience — and there is good evidence that discrimination contributes to the persistent pay disparity between men and women. "
this is just shocking along with stupid. This just baffles my mind. It's the twentieth centarty!!! GET OVER THE GENDER AND RACE SET BACKS. WE'RE ALL EQUAL WOW
It was amazing to me on Tuesday when I heard that Obama signed a bill to narrow the gap in the pay between women and men because to be honest I didn't even know that this still exsisted today. If men and women have the same education and do the same jobs then I don't understand why women get paid less. It makes no sense and it isn't fair.
ReplyDeleteI don't know for sure what career I would like to pursue in the future but I did some general research on the gap between women in men. I found that, in 2013, the median weekly earnings for women in full-time management, professional, and related occupations was $973, compared to $1,349 for men. Also for physicans and surgeons the gap is that the Women's median weekly earnings are $1,418
and Men's median weekly earnings: $2,099. I just don't understand that gap difference because this day in age, women have gotten to the point where they have equal rights and play major roles in society but somehow they are still treated with a discrepancy between their salaries and mens'.
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/11/06/jobs-with-the-widest-pay-gaps-between-men-and-women/2/
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/womens-earnings-and-income
I can't believe that in the 21st century women still make less then men. Hopefully this will change soon with Obama's new policy. I agree with the fact that women should be paid equally even if they have to take day of because of their children. I am going to either major in Biology or Environmental Science. 22% of environmental scientists are women. Although men out number women, many companies will want to hire women so their numbers would go up. The median annual wage for environmental scientists and specialists was $63,570 in May 2012.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/environmental-scientists-and-specialists.htm#tab-1
What Equal Pay Day means to me is that I have a better chance to live in a country where the government has performed one of its key functions – to make sure that people’s rights under US law are not being violated. 50 years ago, it became US law that wages cannot be based upon gender and that people with similar jobs should be afforded equal pay. Surveys and research found that the wage gap between men and women did not get much better over the 50 years since this became US law (from 60% to 77%). One of the things that proves difficult for women to benefit from this law is that it is very difficult to get information on who is being paid what salary in order for women to ascertain whether they are being discriminated against compared to male colleagues performing the same role. This bill makes it easier to get that information. “President Obama signed a new executive order into place yesterday assisting women in getting information from federal contractors on pay rates and protecting women during conversations about pay.”
ReplyDeleteI wish to be involved in the health care industry as a doctor or research scientist – a high level, high skilled role in this industry. What I thought before I did research is that women in traditionally female roles in this industry (e.g. nurses) are probably given an equitable salary compared to men in that role. I would further surmise that perhaps at the higher skilled jobs traditionally for men (e.g. Doctors, biomedical researcher) a wage gap would exist between men and women.
In a Washington Post article, research shows that the gender pay gap among doctors, dentists and other health care workers has grown over the past decade. The article “Female doctors earn $50,000 less than male doctors” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/03/female-doctors-earn-50k-less-than-male-doctors/) also has an interesting graphic of health care salaries and the gender gap vs. non-healthcare salaries. It shows that the gender gap has gotten a lot better in other industries. http://e.infogr.am/Adjusted-average-earnings-by-occupation?src=embed
I was surprised to find out that male nurses, as they become more common, are earning more than their female colleagues. A quote from a Yahoo finance article, “Male Nurses Becoming More Commonplace — and Higher Paid” (http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/male-nurses-becoming-more-commonplace-higher-paid-221330791.html) explains some of the reasons why - “Interestingly, even though women constitute a disproportionately high share of all nursing occupations, men are more likely to go into the higher-paid ones, like nurse anesthetists, and less likely to become licensed practical or vocational nurses, who are lower-paid. About 41% of nurse anesthetists are men (just 9% of all nurses are men), who earn, on average, $162,900 a year, compared with $40,200 for licensed practical and vocational nurses.”
In conclusion, my research shows that in the industry I am interested in working in, the gender gap in salary is very much in existence. Hopefully the new law will help women to bring forth some of the inequities so that social change can eventually take place. I will be an informed health care worker who will be looking out to see if my rights are being violated.