The paper will focus on income inequality, poverty and discrimination. The problem of discrimination based on gender in the United States and the occupational segregation that leads to the unequal opportunities and inequality in the income and makes some groups more vulnerable than others. The discrimination based on gender will be examined based on the statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statics. The comparison will be made based on the average income of women and men in weekly earnings, the difference in working hours that will be shown with the income gap. The occupation segregation will be shown based on the level of education and jobs based on the sexes. Further on, the discrimination can be examined in looking into the distribution of different studies and attainment. Then the discrimination will be shown at the level of decision making and the percentage of women being in managerial positions. Further on the reasons for the gender discrimination that leads to the unequal income and the solutions and what can be done in order to overcome the gender inequality will be shown.
Income inequality, poverty and discrimination are the contemporary issues in developed and developing world. They affect the health care of citizens and are in many times the reason of immigration. The reasons for income inequality can be explained by the differences and ability in education, training, and specific of market work, ownership, and discrimination (Last name of the author, 465 - 471). The inequality in income has risen since the year 1975 which is shown in the distribution of income. The distribution of wealth and accumulation of financial and real assets has been even more unequal than the distribution of income. Income inequality is in the United States measured and described with the Lorenzo curve that shows the total income by each percentage of household and Gini ration which measures the dispersion of the income distributions. 15 % of Americans lived in poverty in 2011 with more than 600.000 people being homeless. Further the income inequality is showing in poverty in which not all groups in the states have been affected the same. Poverty has been defined as a “condition in which a person or a family does not have the means to satisfy basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and transportation” (Last name of the author 475). The main arguments for income inequality are lying in the fact that income generates the initiatives and motivation for work, investment that are needed for output and economic production. Major components of maintenance program are including the government taxes by redistributing the income from the transfer payments. Educational and training programs have been established to reduce poverty. There exist government and public assistance programs and incentives. Among the social programs, there is well known supplemental security income and temporary assistance for needy families. The social insurance program with social security, Medicare and unemployment compensation are trying to reduce the inequality, but the richest fifth of all households was in 2011 receiving 51.1% of the income and the poorest fifth 3.2% (Last name of the author, 465). The causes for the growing inequality are greater demand for skilled and educated workers that brings higher wages. There has been seen the rising wage difference between graduates and high school graduates (Last name of the author, 465 - 477). The economic and occupational segregation shows the difference between women and men where genders are occupying specific occupations and are being overrepresented and underrepresented in others, which results in higher wages for some occupation and lower for others which is causing further inequality and this is where the discrimination based on sexes began. Discrimination is present in the US since workers with the same education, training and abilities are not treated the same (Last name of the author, 483). There has been seen great difference among races and ethnicity in the US in the market ratio where the wages among African Americans have been shown to be lower than the wages for the whites. Women have been more occupied with educational, social and nursing professions that are lower paid as the job position with which the men are usually occupied (Last name of the author, 482). Both rich and poor incomes are rising, but the income growth among rich is growing faster. International trade and imports have also reduced the demand for less skilled workers and resulted in lower wages which means that immigrant with lower education and skills are going to have lower wages and will therefore be exposed to greater vulnerability of possible poverty.
In 2014 the working women for full time were paid 79% of what men were paid (The American Association of University Women – AAUW, 5). The pay gap has narrowed from the past, but it is still at 21%. It has been calculated based on median annual earning of the US for women and men. The analysis from 2007 found that similar educated and experienced women were paid 82% after a year of college graduation of the payment the men got for the same job. What is even more concerning it that the gap widens after 10 years and has shown that women were paid 69% of what men were paid. The organization is proving that the lower income is not a life choice. The explanation of gap is complex but yet the 7 % difference between genders was still unexplained (The American Association of University Women – AAUW, 5-32). The social segregation showed that 74% of women were working in health services and education in comparison to 11.8 % of men. The ration female-to-male earnings were 0.82 which means that weekly earnings for women were 18% less than for men (The Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.p.). The reasons are different. One of them is that women are staying out of the workforce and more of them are working a part not full time because or parenthood. There were difference between different race and ethnicity where the median annual earnings were lower among American Indian, Alaska native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander in comparison with the Asian American, and non-Hispanic whites. The gender gap is increasing with the age (The American Association of University Women – AAUW, 1-17).
It has been proven that the income increases with the higher level of education, but with the higher education the gender pay gap does not decrease. At every level of education the women’s median earnings were less than men’s. There is also difference among women of different races since white are paid more as the African American and Hispanic. The gender segregation of occupation is one of the main reasons for the pay gap, while women are working in traditional female jobs (The American Association of University Women – AAUW, 1-17). The Labor Department showed that distribution of full and part time is unequal among genders where 41.6% of women and 58.4% of men were working full time which is seen that women were in majority working part time jobs. The reason for inequality are social and cultural perception, stereotypes where women are still regarded in many cases as a wife and mothers, which is also seen from the household work where women spend a lot more time per week as men. The household work in in majority done by females which can be explained with the traditional division of labor (The Bureau of Labor Statistics, n. p.). The occupation regarding the decision making and managerial roles is still dominated by men. The segregation of occupation is seen since based on the Pew Research from 2015 (n. p.) only 5% of women were having the positions of CEOs in the states. Women are underrepresented in the managerial reasonability jobs. The men are still prevailing in proportions of jobs with decision making. This can be seen from the percentage of women being in the Senate or in House, where around 20 and 19% of all members are women (Pew Research, n. p.)
The reasons for gender pay gap that leads to income inequality are human capital differences, differences in work experience and educational levels, breaks from paid work for caring for children that is greater among women, part time working that results in hourly and monthly earnings, occupational segregation where women work in highly concentrated in specific occupations that are usually also lower paid and are still underrepresented in higher paid jobs, working segregation that are connected with lower pay among part-time working and female employees. There are also other factors such as reward systems and grading practices (Armstrong, 200-202).
The problem affects all people also people from my neighborhood, where single mothers are doing the same job but for a lower payment. The unequal income is neither lawful nor moral and should be therefore extinct since it causes further inequality and pushes the vulnerable group close to the poverty, which is a severe problem in the United States as around the globe. The gaps between the rich and poor are widening and solution to overcome the issues related to the inequality and gender pay gap are lying in the documents already accepted on the global, federal and state levels. The opportunity should not be based on the color of the skin and neither should be based on the gender. All should have equal opportunity for education and creation of career. The segregation of occupation that is one of the major factors that contributes to the gender gap pay should be improved. The action should begin with the reduction of stereotypes and traditional prescribed roles for men and women. This could be managed in the family and community levels, which would further promote the women to study typically “men’s professions” which would result in a different distribution of students among various courses that would have an effect of more equal distributed education among genders. This would further lead to the similar academic achievement in similar areas and the occupations would not be segregated between female and male job positions. Of course with the respect of every individual wish about the wanted education and occupation. Much can also be done at the company and corporation levels. The top decision making actor should be aware that women can based on the report of McKinsey Global Institute (9) contribute additional $12 trillion to the GDP by the 2025 by making a progress towards gender parity. Women are in number the half of the world’s working population and in the North America generate only 40% of GDP. The unpaid work of care is usually undertaken by women which results in loss of income which is assumed at the amount of $10 trillion of output per year this shows why narrowing the gap in labor-force participation is needed. This can be achieved with promotion of gender equality in the society with further economic development and most importantly in the shifting of attitudes. The inequality of gender on the working positions is just the picture of unfairness in the society. Legal protection, political actions that result in physical security and autonomy is needed. There are various equality indicators that should be equalized between the women and men such as labor participation rate, ratio of professional and technical jobs, diminishing the wage gap, making the leadership position available also for females, time spend for the unpaid work should be the same among sexes, education level with finical and digital inclusion, legal protection and political representation (McKinsey Global Institute, 5 - 17).
The problem of inequality has solutions which can be proven with the statistics from the past. The United States and the world have already made much progress, but the inequality should be further reduced. It is hurting the individuals and causes them so confront the poverty, it cause discrimination among races, ethnicity and gender and further on; it is hindering the possible greater economic development and economic growth of the whole nation and the world. The causes of income inequality are different from social, societal, educational factor to the goals, perceptions, lack of opportunities and discrimination. Inside different factors, there are various arguments for and against but the statistics show that with the improved situation of gender equality all could profit. The paper shows that inequality has many causes and also many consequences on health care and immigration, and it is morally and lawful to try them diminish and step into the more equal and fair societies where everyone has the same right and obligation also in the reality not only in the legal documents that should be respected but are not.
Work Cited
Pew Research Center. Women in Leadership. 2015. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Armstrong, Michael. A Handbook of Employee Reward Management and Practice. 2007. Philadelphia: Kogan Page.
McKinsey Global Institute. The Power of parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth. 2015. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics. American Time Use Survey. (n. d.). Web. 16 Feb. 2016. The American Association of University Women – AAUW. The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap. 2016. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
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