Pay disparity has decreased over time, but biases prevent improvement.

Men and women have not received equal pay for their job since the 19th century (or perhaps ever). Since the passing of legislation banning such discrimination, there has been some progress made toward closing the gender wage gap in the United States, but not all women have felt the benefits equally.

One of the main reasons for the significant racial income inequality in the U.S. is the intersectionality of the gender and racial wage gaps. LGBTQ+ persons also experience pay inequalities in a variety of ways.

KEY LESSONS
 

• Historically, women have made less money doing the same kind of job as men.
   
• No matter their degree of education, women of color frequently find themselves working in lower-paying positions than White women with comparable skill sets.
   
• LGBTQ+ people must deal with the gender pay gap in addition to the pay gap they experience because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
   
• The gender wage gap still exists despite the laws that have been established to address it because of numerous variables and biases.
   
• The History of the Gender Wage Gap
   
• With certain twists that may be unfamiliar to many, the history of the wage gap between men and women is lengthy. People who are familiar with "Rosie the Riveter" are probably aware that during World War II, American women en masse entered the labor, frequently entering sectors that were traditionally dominated by men, as men left to fight abroad.
  
  However, this was not the first significant American conflict for which women volunteered to take care of needs at home.

Many women filled in for the males who were departing to fight in "The Great War" during World War I. Multiple strikes followed when these new workers realized they would be paid less than a man for the same work. Following World War II, trade unions and women's organizations became more actively involved in the fight for wage equality.
 

However, it took around 20 years for these demands to materialize into laws. The Similar Pay Act of 1963, which stipulated that men and women must be paid equally for "substantially equal" work performed in the same job, served as the first pillar.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964's Title VII built on this legislative foundation by prohibiting wage discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin" one year later.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which stated that every discriminatory paycheck, not just the employer's initial pay decision, constituted a new discriminatory act for which the worker could file a claim and recover up to two prior years of back pay, did not become law for 45 years, despite a Supreme Court dissent by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Knowing About the Wage Gap
 

A wage gap is defined as "the difference between the average wages of two separate groups of people" by the Cambridge Dictionary.

The difference between the median wages of men and women in comparison to the median earnings of males is what the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development refers to as the "gender pay gap."
 

According to the most available data from the US Census Bureau, women made 83 cents for every dollar that men made on average in 2020.

That difference of 17 cents has a substantial effect. In 2019, the total earnings of working women were $545.7 billion less than those of men. Working women would have gotten an extra $9,613.13 per person if there was no wage disparity.

Numerous factors that frequently overlap might be blamed for gender wage discrepancies. For instance, gendered pay discrepancies still exist even though variations in geography or education do contribute to income inequality.

In addition, many of the potential contributing factors—such as variations in experience or hours worked—that can appear unrelated to a worker's gender may actually be the outcome of societal gender bias.
 

For instance, traditional gender roles urge women to prioritize childcare and housework, which might leave them with fewer hours available to work and less professional experience than males. Benefits like paid leave for family emergencies and reasonably priced child care encourage mothers to go back to work. However, according to our research, only 19% of civilian employees had access to employer-sponsored paid family leave as of March 2019.

Additionally, the groups of women who can afford services like childcare may be constrained by enduring financial inequality based on variables other than gender.

According to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research published in August 2020, the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic could widen the gender wage gap both during the current recession and throughout recovery. However, over time, the research forecasts that the gap will narrow, partly as a result of the so-called "new normal" brought on by the pandemic. It suggests a "weakening of the gender norms," for instance, which will lead to a more equal division of childcare between men and women.
13 Race and Gender Convergence
Not all women suffer the 17-cent salary gap equally; some women earn significantly less as a result of additional prejudice against other demographic features. Asian women had a greater weekly median income than White, Black, and Latinx women during this time period, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics statistics for Q4 2021.

In Q4 2021, Asian women outperformed White men in terms of earnings, despite the fact that women across all four of these ethnic groupings generally earned less than males of the same race.

It wasn't always like this. Asian women had a lower weekly median income than White men between 2000 and 2019, although earning more than all other women between those years. Only Asian men outearned White men in the fourth quarter of 2021 and from 2000 to 2020.

These data won't provide a precise picture because they rely on average values. For instance, not all Asian women make more than White males overall, despite being Asian American women. For instance, Tongan women made 75 cents for dollars earned by White males in 2018, whereas Filipino women made 83 cents and Nepali women made 50 cents.
 

While White women earn more on average each week than Black and Latinx women, Latinx women make the least out of all groups.

The wider wage gap that most women of color experience are a sign of the detrimental effects of both racial and gender bias on their income.
 

Opportunity Gaps by Gender
 

An opportunity gap is defined by education reformers as "the mechanisms by which race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, English proficiency, community wealth, familial circumstances, or other factors contribute to or perpetuate lower educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment for certain groups of students."

However, the same fundamental idea also applies to the challenges that employees encounter because of their demographic traits outside of the field of education.

Teachers and other mentors frequently stress the value of networking, which gives participants a form of social capital (i.e., a result of human interaction that is advantageous to a person's career). Possessing friends, family, or other social connections who hold influential positions often makes it much simpler to land work possibilities. There is an opportunity gap since this social capital isn't allocated fairly.

Numerous other elements play a role in the overall opportunity gap. Occupational segregation, defined by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth as "a group's overrepresentation or underrepresentation in certain jobs or sectors of employment," is one of the more notable examples. In 2020, the Center discovered that male-dominated sectors typically pay better, independent of competence or educational level.
 

While this is happening, structural sexism and social pressure may have an impact on certain women's professional choices. Compared to White women working at a comparable skill level, Black and Latinx women are more frequently concentrated in lower-paying jobs, regardless of schooling. For instance, according to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center, most women of color continue to be significantly underrepresented in profitable STEM fields.
 

And of course, there's still misogyny and sexism in the workplace. Sadly, while being prohibited by the Equal Pay Act, gender-based discrimination may still be widespread. Aside from the actual wage disparity, discrimination on the part of employers during hiring and compensation may also contribute to pay inequalities. Some jurisdictions recently outlawed the practice of businesses asking job candidates about their wage history in order to combat discrimination.
 

In Ireland, women are still earning 14.4% less than men.

Today in the Seanad, we progressed legislation that will help to tackle the gender pay gap, by requiring organisations of a certain size to publish any disparities in pay between men and women. #WorkEqual pic.twitter.com/6U5rEKUeux

— Roderic O’Gorman TD (@rodericogorman) June 14, 2021

You can submit a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if you think that you are being paid less than your coworkers because of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability (EEOC). On the agency's website, the complaint procedure is described in detail.
Nonbinary and Transgender Wage Gap
LGBTQ+ people may have to deal with salary discrepancies for their identities in addition to prejudice based on their gender identity and/or sexual orientation.

For workers outside the gender binary, the confluence of these two socioeconomic differences might lead to unusual circumstances. For instance, a 2008 study discovered that transgender women's average earnings decreased by about 32% after transitioning. On the other hand, although only somewhat, transgender men's average earnings improved after the transition.
 

In a previous study, numerous transgender men said that after their transition, they were given more power and respect at work. More recent data show that many transgender women left high-paying jobs for lower-paying ones as a result of workplace discrimination. Other studies showed that transgender women have difficulty keeping employment. However, some transgender males have mentioned experiencing issues getting hired, especially if they had an "undisputed masculine appearance."
 

Nevertheless, regardless of their gender identity, transgender and transitioning people may experience disparities in pay and employment opportunities. 15% of transgender people reported household incomes of less than $10,000, according to a 2011 research by the National LGBTQ Task Force. This represents a poverty rate that was then approximately four times greater than that of the overall population.

In the same year, research by the Center for American Progress revealed that prejudice resulted in 44% of transgender workers being passed over for employment, 26% being fired, and 23% being denied a promotion.
 

Unfortunately, very little research has been done on the effects of the wage gap on genderqueer and nonbinary people. However, a 2016 study on the opportunity gap indicated that nonbinary people who were assigned male at birth (AMAB) often suffered employment prejudice while those who were assigned female at birth (AFAB) more frequently encountered discriminatory treatment at work. Although they have generally done better than transgender women, nonbinary persons as a whole were more likely to have been rejected a promotion.
 

There is a dearth of research on the wage gap that LGBTQ+ Americans experience, especially when it comes to issues of diversity within the group. This is partly because the federal government hasn't been gathering enough data. For instance, the 2020 Census was the first survey by the U.S. Census Bureau to gather information on same-sex couples, although it did so only for individuals who were living together. And only this one query specifically addressed the LGBTQ+ audience.
 

Sexual harassment's Impact
 

Sexual harassment in the workplace is still all too widespread, despite the fact that it is forbidden by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, just like the wage gap itself. Women are not the only ones who experience it, but it disproportionately impacts them. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, roughly 83.2% of the 6,587 sexual harassment complaints made in 2020 were made by women as opposed to 16.8% by men.
 

Sexual harassment not only causes emotional suffering but also has a detrimental effect on a woman's income. For instance, a survey released in March 2020 by the National Partnership for Women & Families indicated that women may feel less at ease negotiating pay and raises in companies where sexual harassment isn't reported.

Due to worries about reprisal, firing, or inaction, workplace sexual harassment incidents frequently go unreported. Nearly half of the women who reported sexual harassment to their managers or human resources departments in a 2018 Morning Consult study were unhappy with the outcomes.
 

Workplace progress, career decisions, and job performance can all be impacted by sexual harassment. Women who experience it at work frequently describe increased anxiety and despair, which can have an impact on output and general performance.

Women who experience workplace sexual harassment are 6.5 times more likely to change jobs, frequently to ones with lower quality and/or pay, according to a 2017 report in the Gender & Society journal, 32 and a 2018 New America study discovered that women may be driven out of entire industries, amplifying occupational segregation.
 

Additionally, reporting sexual harassment may result in greater financial costs for women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities, as well as a higher risk of reprisal, doubt, victim-blaming, and other discriminatory reactions.
 

gender disparities on a global level
In its annual Global Gender Gap Report, the World Economic Forum tracks and analyses gender-based inequities around the world. The Global Gender Gap Index includes four complete subindices that each measure a different sort of gender discrepancy across 153 countries, in addition to its overall evaluation of income and opportunity discrepancies.

These consist of:

• Economic Participation and Opportunity: This index examines the salary equality between men and women for comparable work, as well as the disparity between men's and women's labor force participation, professional and technical employment, and the number of legislators, senior officials, and managers. The second-largest disparity, at 42%, relates to economic participation and opportunity.
   
• 36 Educational Attainment: This indicator assesses the disparity in literacy rates and net enrolment rates in primary, secondary, and postsecondary education between men and women. With a 4% difference, the educational attainment gap is the second-smallest.
   
• 36 Health and Survival: This score compares the sex ratio at birth with the difference in healthy life expectancy between men and women. The difference in health and survival is the closest to being closed, with just 3% left.
   
• 36 Political Empowerment: This index compares the number of men and women holding ministerial positions and parliamentary seats, as well as the number of years that women have presided over sovereign states throughout the previous five decades. The gap in political empowerment is the one that has the most remaining, at 75%.
  
   
• the proportion of the world's gender gap that has not yet been closed.
   

These subindexes measure a number of additional gender disparities that are not always taken into account when discussing the wage gap, despite the socioeconomic impact they can have on both the individual level and on conditions that allow for discriminatory income differences. These subindices go beyond the topics that have already been discussed in this article. For instance, denying women access to better healthcare may affect their ability to work should they get sick or hurt. Additionally, if individuals in positions of political influence profit from the current situation, it can be challenging to adopt legislation that will effectively eliminate wealth gaps.

The global average numbers make it simpler to calculate how the more ethereal opportunity disparities have changed over time, even though each country is given its own score. In the 2020 report, for instance, it was discovered that both the overall index and three of the four subindices had increased from the previous year. The only subindex that fell was the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, showing that even while the pay gap in the United States is continuing to close, this change isn't seen internationally.
 

The conclusion
 

Despite the fact that the gender wage gap has decreased over time, it will never completely disappear without concerted efforts to address the numerous variables and biases that contribute to its persistence. Businesses need to be involved in this by making sure that everyone is compensated fairly for their job and that a workplace is a safe place for all women.

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