The gender wage gap is something that lawmakers have tried to address through legislation, such as the Equal Pay Act, however it is still a very prevalent problem in America. Today, a woman earns about 79 cents for every dollar that a man earns. This is clearly unfair and shows that gender discrimination is still impacting individuals despite the progress and the attempts to close this wage gap. Women of color specifically earn the least when compared to the wages of men and white women. This may be due to the intersectionality of the identities of women of color (including gender and race), further proving that race and gender are factors that unfairly impact earnings. For example, Hispanic women earn only 55% of the earnings of men. This large gender wage gap is a clear example of unequal treatment based on gender in today’s society. It has been predicted that the gender wage gap will hopefully be closed by 2059. While this is great, the current wage gap (as shown in the following bar charts) is something that is actively impacting every woman and marginalized identity group right now without a quick fix to refocus professional earnings on talent rather than gender.
citations: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/these-5-charts-show-how-big-the-pay-gap-is-between-men-and-women/
If the wage gap is going to be closed by 2059, thats 27 years away. We as a society need to figure out a way to fix this problem much much sooner.
The fact that the wage gap even exists to begin with is a huge issue, but the fact that the gap won’t even be closed until 2059 is even more disappointing. I wonder if there is something we can do to fix this sooner rather than later?
It will take a real collective effort to end the wage gap and while it is difficult, it will hopefully be possible to make equal pay the norm well before 2059.