Women have worked long and hard to gain professional opportunities. Only a few generations ago, women could rarely work in professional fields. These days, women dominate certain industries and continue to make dramatic headway in areas that have historically been male-oriented.
Women have also begun to earn more than they have in the past. With female workers all over the country leaning in to their professions and becoming the primary wage earners for their households, people have started to assume that wage inequality or the gender wage gap is no longer an issue.
Do women actually make less money than men for doing the same work?
The gender wage gap may have decreased, but it is still there
Experts have been tracking discrepancies in how companies pay workers based on their sex for years. Research shows that women continue to make less than men in almost all industries and at all levels of employment. A woman will generally earn less than a man with the same education, background or job title.
On average, women tend to make 82 cents on the dollar when compared with a man in a similar position. Despite achieving educational success and demonstrating professional drive, women still have an uphill battle when it comes to securing fair wages for their labor.
Factors other than being female can affect someone’s wages, including their marital status, whether or not they are a mother and their race. Black female workers often make even less than white women in the workplace.
How do you discover a wage gap at work?
The only way to know if the company that employs you compensates you fairly is to learn what they pay other people who do the same kind of work. Some companies trying to deter employees from sharing this information, but federal workplace protections give you the right to inquire about wages and other information that would be necessary to unionize.
If you have already uncovered disturbing signs of a wage gap trend at your place of employment, it may be time for you to fight back and hold your employer accountable for not offering equal pay for equal work.
