Gender pay gap

“ Most economists agree, however, that no matter how many variables you control for an unexplained wage gap between men and women persists. For example, Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn did an excellent breakdown of the wage gap in 2007 and identified that 41% of the wage gap between men and women could not be explained by controlling for variables. Regardless of the precise percentage of the wage gap, we have a responsibility to ensure that no one in this country makes less as a result of his or her gender.
Wage discrimination is real. ”

“ Whereas if current trends continue, Asian women are projected to close the gender pay gap in 22 years, White women in 50 years, Black women in 350 years, and Latinas in 432 years; Whereas the disparity in median annual earnings for women and men working full-time, year-round is $10,157 ”

“ This year, we recognize another milestone on the road to women's equality: the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Equal Pay Act, which for the first time in our Nation's history guaranteed equal pay to women who perform the same jobs as men. Only a generation ago, a woman could legally be paid less for her time and talent solely because of her gender. Today, we realize that the denial of equal pay not only unfairly limits a woman's ability to provide for her family's economic security, but also diminishes her dignity by belittling the value of her labor. ”

“ In the federal government, the wage gap between men and women is only 11%. Conversely, in the private sector, the survey showed that 61% of employees are discouraged or prohibited from talking about salary information. The wage gap in the broader economy is much larger. It’s common sense that in order to identify and prevent discrimination, employees have to know how their pay compares to that of their peers and that pay would be more equal where workplaces are more open. ”

“ This means that, for the 1996 calendar year, the wages of the average American female worker will not match those of the average male worker until April 11 of this year.
Although the pay gap has narrowed over the past two decades, unfair pay practices persist in many U.S. business sectors. Paying a woman less than a male co-worker with equal skills and job responsibilities hurts that woman and her family-not only in immediate material benefit, but also in her ability to invest and save for retirement. Working women deserve-and are demanding-fair and equal pay for their time spent on the job. ”

“ Women’s Wages
But the supposed injustice to woman is illusory. Trade Boards will not knowingly fix women’s rates at a point at which they can undercut men. Nor if women are properly represented on them will they fix their rates at a point at which women will be discarded in favour of male workers. In industries where both sexes are employed, if the women workers are of equal value with the men in the eyes of the employer, they will receive equal pay ”

“ Today, women make up close to half of our Nation's labor force, and women-owned businesses are changing the face of the American and global economies. But barriers to equality remain. Despite the efforts of women like Esther Peterson, a leader in the effort to end gender-based salary differences, many women are still paid considerably less than their male counterparts. Often these women also struggle with the dual responsibilities of raising a family and meeting the demands of a full-time job. ”

“ Whereas sex-based wage differentials— (1) depress employee wages and living standards necessary for health and well-being; (2) reduce family incomes and contribute to the higher poverty rates among women and their families; and (3) prevent the effective and maximum utilization of available labor resources; Whereas a wage gap exists in nearly every occupational field, but opening traditionally male-dominated jobs to women and reducing occupational segregation by sex increases earnings for women ”

“ There are — we are looking at — obviously the President is looking at additional paths and legislation coming down over the next couple of months to also build the incentives to generate jobs for Americans and, obviously, women being a major part of that.
But our goal, Jen and I, is to really look at long-term structural changes that can advance the full integration of women — women of color, women all over — so that issues of discrimination and equity and equality in the labor force and in pay can be addressed in a systemic manner, long term. ”

“ Moreover, such a large proportion of them are mere “pin-money girls” that there is no minimum standard of wages, such as is furnished for men by the necessary cost of maintaining a family. Women’s wages are perhaps in a majority of cases simply supplementary earnings, and the wages of all women, self-dependent or not, tend to be fixed on the assumption that they will live parasitically on their relatives. As a result of this lack of standards, the whole subject of the pay and conditions of women’s work is a veritable chaos. ”

“ Moreover, from the employer's standpoint, the efficacy of female labor will be largely a matter for experiment, and "equal pay" will give him no inducement to experiment at all. The diminished number of women in these occupations (as compared with what might have been) increases the number who must fall back on the purely women's trades; and it must serve to reduce the wages there, where organization is by no means strong. ”

“ The adjustment of the wage-scale was a problem of some delicacy. To raise the scale of women’s wages to the same as men’s would probably have meant driving the women from the trade; to leave them on the lower scale would mean that women would contrive to undersell men. It was finally decided to take the highest existing rates of pay for women as the basis of the women’s Union rates. ”

“ Whereas women hold two-thirds of the Nation’s $1.54 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, totaling over $929 billion, and are less likely to be able to pay off their student loan debt promptly due to wage disparities; Whereas the wage gap impacts women’s ability to save for retirement and women’s total Social Security and pension benefits, and older women are more likely than men to live in poverty; Whereas sex discrimination in education, hiring, and promotion has played a role in maintaining a workforce segregated by sex ”

“ It is because women have received not proportionately but quite disproportionately less pay that they have been undercutting men, and the Trade Boards are—very gradually, I admit—correcting this error. For well-known historical reasons women have been at an economic disadvantage, and their work has secured less than its worth as compared with the work of men. The tendency of any impartial adjustment of wages is to correct this disadvantage, because any such system will attempt to secure equality of opportunity for employment for all the classes with which it is dealing. ”

“ Women deserve equal pay for equal work.
This is an economic issue that affects all of us. Women make up about half our workforce. And more and more, they’re our families’ main breadwinners. So it’s good for everyone when women are paid fairly. That’s why, this week, I took action to prohibit more businesses from punishing workers who discuss their salaries – because more pay transparency makes it easier to spot pay discrimination. And I hope more business leaders will take up this cause. But equal pay is just one part of an economic agenda for women. ”

“ Resolved, That, whereas, the custom of making small remuneration for woman's work, in all departments of industry, has sprung from her dependence, which dependence is prolonged and increased by this most irrational and unjust habit of half pay; therefore do we demand, in the name of common sense and common conscience, that women equally with men, should be paid for their services according to the quality and quantity of the work done, and not the sex of the worker. ”

“ For their opportunities as things now stand, all over the world, women pay a premium on the terms offered to men. Let them take these opportunities as tools, and try to win their bread with them, and the wages offered are, as a rule, a large discount on those offered to men. Political economy has nothing to do with the exceptional cases in which this is most evident,—only the common, habitual idea, that the wages of women must be kept down; and that, to do it, the value of superior labor must not be recognized, as in the case of the female teacher quoted in the text. ”

“ The same conclusion was reached in the report presented to the British Association by the committee appointed to investigate the "Replacement of Male by Female Labor." The committee found itself in entire disagreement with the opinion that the increased employment of women was a passing phase, and made recommendations bearing on such measures as improved technical training for girls as well as for boys, a minimum wage for unskilled men as well as women, equal pay for equal work, and the abolition of "half-timers." ”

“ A second result may be, that many women, instead of leaving the home, will be forced back into it. This movement will be accelerated if the granting of equal pay for equal work and a universal application of the minimum wage take place. There are a great number of positions, especially those where personality is not a vital factor, where employers will prefer women when they can pay them less; but if they must give equal pay, they will choose men. Hence the tendency of the movements mentioned is to throw certain classes of women back into the home. ”

“ Under such a system, each sex would really make the contribution characteristic of that sex, and the question of a “family wage” would be solved. A man would be able equitably to claim a higher wage than a woman for the same work, on the ground that, as a man, he was taxed as women were not, for his share of supporting the human family, and the widows and spinsters would cease to be burdened out of their smaller wages with rates and taxes to pay for the unfulfilled duties of men. ”

“ But, second, enlightenment of the public conscience must supplement organisation. It should not be difficult to convince educated people that women's work should be paid on the same principle as that of men—that is to say, according to their product, and not according to their wants; and to make them pay, or insist on the worker being paid, equal wages for equal work. But the point on which enlightenment does seem very much needed is that of the supposed necessity for low wages. ”

“ Of course, there are fewer woman bread-winners, the proportion being five men to one woman. But women share equally in the benefits of labor legislation, besides being specially protected. The unions have even succeeded in leveling up a little the scale of women's wages, thus measurably meeting the complaint of 1848 [Pg 320] that in her employments woman "receives but a scanty remuneration." And despite the equal pay laws for teachers in the suffrage states the average pay for women teachers is much below that of men teachers. ”

“ Women-workers do not, in many cases, receive the same wages which would be paid to men for doing the same work. Why is this? It is sometimes described as an unfair advantage taken of women because they are women. There is a male prejudice, it is urged, against women-workers, which prevents employers from paying them the wages they could and would pay to men. ”

“ It is plain, then, that many causes are at work to depress the wages even of skilled workers, far more than can be enumerated here. If this is true for men, how much more strongly can limitations be stated for women, as we ask, "Why do not women receive a better wage?" Many of the reasons are historical, and must be considered in their origin and growth. Taking her as worker to-day, precisely the same general causes are in operation that govern the wages of men, with the added disability of sex, always in the way of equal mobility of labor. ”

“ A man has to have wages to meet all of his expenses, a large part of which is Woman. Now run along and be a good little girl!
But the new woman in industry can't be dismissed so easily as that. Especially a feminist in khaki can't. And she was respectfully saluting Government and begging to inquire if women were doing men's work so well as Government had said they were, when would women be getting men's pay? ”

“ To honor these Americans and stay true to our founding ideals, we must carry forward this tradition and breathe life into these principles by supporting equal pay for men and women. Wage discrimination has a tangible and negative impact on women and families. When women receive less than their deserved compensation, they take home less for themselves and their loved ones. ”

“ Why, then, in distinctively women’s occupations should the wages paid be lower than men’s? The answer is not easy, but the key to the problem is to be found in the broad statement that the field of employment of women is much more restricted than that of men. Hence the competition of women for employment reduces their general wage level to a lower point than that of men, or, as an economist would put it, the marginal uses of female labour are inferior to those of male labour. ”

“ Why are men and women employed in equal work at unequal wages? but, Why are men and women employed in different groups of employment? and, comparing these two groups, Why is the wage level of skilled female labour lower even than that of unskilled male labour?
The reasons may be found in observing a course of events constantly under our eyes. There are always certain trades where women are still competing more or less directly with men. In these, women are under certain disabilities of sex which make their work less remunerative or less profitable to their employers. ”