Gender Wage Gap

The Wage Gap Between Genders in the Work Force

Briana Morris, Kaleb Wainright, Matthew Bavis, Olivia Spencer,

Madison Starr, Logan Maurer, Shelby Moore

Introduction to Sociology (SOCY 1101 008)

Wairimu Mwangi
November 17, 2016

Gender Wage Gap

Introduction

Women work two-thirds of the working hours and earn ten percent of the overall
income (Irish Aid 2015). We are raising the question as to why there is inequality in wage
between genders in Corporate America. According to structural functionalism, society is held
together because every individual serves a purpose in society. As this applies to the gender wage
gap, women are, on average, paid less because men are generally seen as being able to
outperform women. Men and women should have equal pay and opportunity in the workplace.
This paper will acknowledge, explain, and give statistical evidence as to why women are paid
differently within heathcare, Wall Street, STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics),
education, and small businesses.
Corporate America is defined as describing the world of corporations and big businesses
within the United States. 53 years ago, John F. Kennedy passed the Equal Pay Act (EPA) that
prohibits sex discrimination with regard to jobs that involve substantially equal skill, effort,
responsibility, and similar working conditions (Laney). However, even though laws have been
passed for more than 50 years against gender wage gap, this is still a significant issue in today's
society. Why is gender inequality in the work force still a controversial issue? "Human capital"
a term defined by economists, that argues that the investments that workers make in their skills
and productivity through their education, training, and work experience, cause the gender pay
gap in salary. What economist are stating is that most women invest in family and homelife over
their career or education. Women in general are often not promoted as much as males due to
having more lengthy backgrounds in management and stronger work ethics. It is often argued
that men often prefer to maximize their wages to a committed lifestyle to paid work, which often
leads men to invest more time in education, training, and job related skills (Roth 2006). A

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dominant theory relating to this topic is structural perspective which means it is the workers
position that is the determinant of their income (Roth 2006). If someone has a high position, this
theory states that they will get paid more due to the high position.
Literature Review
The wage gap between men and women within the field of healthcare has consistently
been an issue in America. Although healthcare occupations are predominantly filled by women,
women still experience wage inequality within their professions. In some fields, women earn
less because of what researchers call inherent value notion, whereby women set lower prices
for their work (Laff 2016). This notion, in other words, states that women have reached a
compromise with their employers to receive more flexible schedules in order to continue taking
care of their families in exchange for lower pay. Is this ideally the only reason for the wage gap
between men and women? For example, the authors found the lowest unadjusted
reimbursement gap was among family physicians, with a $15,000 difference between what male
and female physicians were paid (Laff 2016). Although women have achieved the same level
of education as a man in order to be a physician, they are still paid less than male physicians for
completing the same job. Furthermore, men and women may negotiate differently, and male
physicians may be more aggressive in terms of obtaining outside salary offers (Louis 2016).
The wage gap for CRNAs (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists) are similar in
magnitude to the salary differences found for physicians. Men are still out earning women
across settings, specialties, and positions with no narrowing of the pay gap over time, and
because the field is the largest in health care and predominantly female, it affects approximately
2.5 million women (Muench, Sindelar, & Busch 2015). This should impel employers to examine
their pay layouts and to start being proactive in their attempts to fill the gap. All CRNAs have the

Gender Wage Gap

same credibility of education and acquire the same training needed to provide the best care for
patients in each and every type of procedure calling for anesthesia. The fact that nurse
anesthesia is the highest paid nursing specialty and attracts more men than any other area in
nursing offers no explanation as to why there is such a significant pay gap between male and
female CRNAs, per Sharon Pearce, CRNA, MSN, president, American Association of Nurse
Anesthetists (Hilton 2015). Hilton points out that nationally, 60% of private sector workers say
they are either prohibited by contract or strongly discouraged by their management from
discussing salaries. In some cases, it is understandable that workers not bring up their salary if
both men and women are both forbidden. However, if men are given those chances while the
women are overlooked, the issue of inequality still reigns in the gender wage gap warfare.
Research has shown that men are more likely than women to hustle for pay increases, and when
women do negotiate, they may be perceived less positively than when men negotiate. The U.S.
Department of Labor offers An Employers Guide to Equal Pay, which includes useful tips on
addressing questions about wage discrepancies that employers can introduce about open-pay
policies that increase transparency in compensation (Hilton 2015).
The wage gap between men and women in all the Wall Street financially heavy
sectors has been noted to have one of the largest pay gaps of any industry as stated in a recent
study done in 2010. This study showed that women earned 77.4 cent for every dollar compared
to males within the same career. The average difference in pay among financial professionals is
noted to be around $223,368 per year. The question is, why is there still a pay gap between men
and women within the financial world? "One reason female professionals make less money in
the financial sector is that they tend to wind up in lower-paying positions such as in public
finance rather than on trading desks", said Louise Marie Roth, a sociologist at the University of

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Arizona. Roth also notes in her book, Selling Women Short, that "women invest less in their
human capital because a majority of women prioritize family over career." Employers often
recognize this and often choose women to not hold the same positions in Wall Street rms. Men
are often promoted to higher ranks than women, mainly based on the investment in their human
capital. (Roth 2006)
About half of the nation's workforce is made up of women, but only 24 percent of all
workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is comprised of female
workers. The pay gap between men and women in STEM fields is smaller than the national
average pay gap across all fields, but the pay gap still exists (Breede et al. 2011). When studying
the pay in these fields, there is a pay gap between STEM fields and non-STEM fields. This gap
has been referred to as the STEM earnings premium (Breede et al. 2011). There are major
benefits for women to work in STEM, but there is still inequality. Men working in STEM have a
25 percent pay increase as compared to their non-STEM counterparts, but women in STEM see
an increase of 33 percent. The pay gap is much smaller since womens STEM earnings premium
is much larger than a mans, but there is still about a 14 percent gap between the salary of a man
and woman. This means that for every dollar that a man in a STEM field makes, his female
counterpart only earns 86 cents. The average man makes $36.34 per hour while the average
woman only makes $31.11 per hour (Breede et al. 2011). In specific fields there is a much
smaller wage gap of seven to nine percent, but in computer and mathematical fields, there is still
a large pay gap of 12 percent. The computer and mathematical fields employ the least women
and have the largest pay gap out of any of the STEM fields (Blume-Kohout 2014). The pay gap
is unavoidable, but STEM is a good option for women to attempt to maximize their earning
potential with the gap. Choosing a college major with a low wage gap after graduation is key in

Gender Wage Gap

maximizing earnings, and STEM has one of the lowest pay gaps out of jobs held by college
graduates. Choosing to work in STEM managerial or engineering could maximize a womans
earning potential (Corbett & Hill 2012).
Education is a field where pay gap exists. Male public school teachers earn between 10
to 13 percent more than females, on average (Gruber 1996). Education is a female dominated
occupation, but males consistently receive more pay than females. There is no stated reason for
there to be a difference in wages between male and female workers of the same positions, but
structural functionalism implies that men are seen as more valuable than women in the
workplace. This gives some explanation as to why there is a wage gap between men and women.
According to the Institute for Womens Policy Research, the womens median weekly earnings
for elementary and middle school teachers was $933 compared to the mens median weekly
earnings of $1,022. As a secondary school teacher, the womens median weekly earnings are
$989 and mens median weekly earnings are $1,049 (Institute for Womens Policy Research
2012).
A managerial position is one of the most common occupations for both males and
females in corporations and small businesses alike. A male holding a managerial position within
a company is going to earn on average, $1,525 dollars a week. While a woman possessing the
same credentials and occupational position earns on average, about $1,213 dollars a week. This
means that a woman earns about 80 percent of what a man does, even though they are equal and
are doing the same job (Hegewisch & DuMonthier 2016). The wage gaps from the most common
occupations show that the biggest gap exists in the field of financial management. Men earned,
on average, $602 dollars more than women in the same field who possessed equal skills
(Hegewisch & DuMonthier 2016). The second largest gap was between genders in a retail sales

Gender Wage Gap

position. The difference in salaries corresponded to $200 dollars more a week for men than for
women. This $200 dollar difference means that women make about 65 percent of what a man
makes in a week though they work the same position (Hegewisch & DuMonthier 2016). Pay
inequality is unjust and unfair, and men and women alike should be paid equal wages for equal
work and skill.
A counter to the argument of structural functionalism is conflict theory. According to
conflict theory, the dominant group in society works to advance their own interests, and in the
process of doing so, oppresses the minority. In the context of the wage gap, women are paid less
because men are trying to advance their own economic interests. Conflict theory would argue
that women receive lower wages not because they are seen as less valuable, but because men
would prefer to help themselves by increasing their wages and in turn decreasing the wages of
women.
Hypothesis
The evidence above points to the overwhelming data that women get paid less than men
for the same position. No company can give valid reasons as to why they do not pay men and
women equally. That is because there is not any justification as to why a person would be paid a
different salary based upon anything other than the womans productivity. This defines our first
hypothesis that states, a wage gap is dependent upon the gender of a person is corrupt and
unjustified; therefore, women should be payed equal to their male counterparts. The reason for
the gap can be attributed to structural functionalism, which says that men are generally seen as
more valuable. Men are presumed to have a higher human capital than women, therefore, women
see a negative pay gap because companies assume men bring more profit.

Gender Wage Gap

Our second hypothesis states that employers should not use human capital as a reference
for determining female salaries. To support both of our hypotheses, for example, it is
hypothesized that the pay gap exists because of clear discrimination by department chairs in
salary settings (Louis 2016). Department heads obviously know the capabilities that women
have but choose to enforce the notion that women should not be paid more than men just because
of their gender. A wage gap dependent upon the gender of a person is corrupt and unjustified, but
it is seemingly unavoidable. Based on both of our hypotheses, our dependent variable that is
being measured is the wage gap between men and women which is independent on the
occupations that women choose.
Research Design
Our target population throughout this project is both men and women, with the focus
being towards women because they are in direct effect of the gender wage gap. Women are
unfairly paid although they possess the same skills, abilities, and education as their male
counterparts within the same occupation. The appropriate research method for this study would
be quantitative research because we are using statistical data. The best research design method
when studying the gender pay gap between men and women would be to observe the largest
group of people in the work force as possible. The easiest way to reach the largest portion of the
work force would be in a large survey or finding statistical data produced by the government. It
is necessary to study the entire work force because this gives values for an average mans salary
and an average womans salary. The data received from the survey would be most useful if it
were split into different categories such as by employer, experience before the job, amount of
time that the person was employed, education, and position. This would directly show the
difference in pay between men and women with the same qualifications, employed by the same

Gender Wage Gap

people for the same position. A study such as this would give the most accurate, readily useful
information for observing the wage gap between the genders across multiple fields.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this research about wage gap inequality in Corporate America is important
because women are still getting paid less for the same job titles or careers than men are. In
researching why the gender wage gap is constantly an issue in healthcare, Wall Street, STEM,
education, and small businesses, we looked at what caused women to receive lower pay than
men. Research has shown that women often invest less in their Human Capital, choose careers
that are often a female dominated industry, and choose to work part time jobs that are often paid
less than full time employees. However, women should be offered the same salary as their male
counterparts. We attributed the wage gap between the genders to the sociological theory of
structural functionalism, which, in this case, states that men are paid more because they can
better carry out the tasks needed for society to function properly. The counter to this argument is
conflict theory, which states that the dominant group, men in this case, pay women less in order
to advance their own interests. We expected to find that there would be a way to solve the issue
of the wage gap, but after research there is not a quick way to change the norm of men getting
paid more than women. The social norm has been evolving over the years because the wage gap
has been steadily decreasing and possibly will disappear in years to come, but there is no short
term fix for the gender pay gap.

Gender Wage Gap

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