Gender Pay Gap - Statistics Project Example

Gender Pay Gap Outline of the Problem Analysis of gender pay gap takes into consideration the differences in labour market earning between women and men in paid employment with figures generated from this analysis indicating women are at a disadvantage compared to men. Gender pay gap is part of the general discrimination in the workplace attributed to the existing conflicting perceptions between the necessary qualities essential for one to be successful at the workplace and the qualities that women are presumed to possess (Welle and Heilman, 2007). Along with the qualities that male or female workers are presumed to possess is the perceptions about a particular work being suitable for a particular gender due to the difference in numerical figures of those present for example the existence of more women than men in the nursing profession while there are more men than women in the engineering profession (Lips, 2003). This perception about gender suitability for particular occupation has resulted in biasness with the gender that is seen as more suited earning more than the other. Collection and Critical Review of Evidence Statistic of employees under contract with Wal-Mart indicates that by 2001 the chain had about 930,000 with women accounting for 64 percent of the total active employees. Employees have different employment contracts based on the positions of employment within the organization such as hourly employees, store management staff and managers above store management who include District Managers and Regional Vice Presidents. Employees recruited for positions in store management include Store Managers, Co-Managers, Assistant Managers, and Management Trainees which is the entry point for managers. All the managers except those in trainee position draw monthly salaries. A review of the employment structure in Wal-Mart indicates that there are more women in the hourly working positions (65 percent) than are in the management positions (33 percent) (Collins and Feder, 2013). On average, employees occupying management positions within the Wal-Mart hierarchy drew a salary of about $50,000 compared to $18,000 that those in hourly employment received. Consequently, it follows that there is a pay gap disparity in Wal-Mart employment between women and men with the former earning less money than men at Wal-Mart (Drogin, 2003). This disparity based on gender of employees of Wal-Mart is due to the fact that more women work in the lower paying hourly jobs as well as earning less than men even when they occupy the same position as men. When the general pay across various employment positions within Wal-Mart is compared based on gender, women have been found to earn approximately $5,200 less than their male counterparts. For women who work as hourly employees, their pay is about $1,100 less than men in the same job category while in the management class they are paid $14,500 less. When making comparisons for both salary and hourly employees for female and male employees working the same job position for forty five weeks per year, hourly female employees are paid $18184 on average while their male counterparts get $23403 on average. On hourly employment averages, female employees who make up over 70 percent receive $17459 while male employees got $18609. Further disparities in pay can be seen within the salary group of employees where female employees make about 33 percent with each earning about $40905 while their male counterparts get about $55443 (Drogin, 2003). Average figures on pay based on regions reveal that there is no region within the US where female Wal-Mart employees earn more than men when those within the same employment position are compared. Figures for the position of those in management positions across regions indicate that there are about 10 percent of female employees with their average pay being $279772 while the male employees who are the majority get $419435. In the district manager position within Wal-Mart hierarchy, female employees make up about 9.8 percent with earnings being about $177149 for a female manager in this position while a male employee receives $239519. This indicates the dispraises in pay between female and male employees who are employed at the same level in Wal-Mart stores with women being at a disadvantage (Drogin, 2003). When making comparisons of pay gap based on the number of years that an employee works in Wal-Mart, there is still biasness that disadvantage female employees. Figures from the Wal-Mart employment statistics indicates that women are employed for a longer period of time than their male counterparts shown by the higher average number of years reported by women since hiring. Up to the end of 2001, female employees had an average figure of 4.47 years representing their average employment years since the time of hire compared to 3.13 years for male workers. Even as female employees report the highest number of years as Wal-Mart employees, the average period of time taken for a female worker to rise up the management ladder from management trainee to assistant manager or manager position is also higher compared to that taken by male workers. Figures from Wal-Mart employment statistics indicate 4.38 years being the average time from when a female employee is hired to getting promotion to Assistant Manager while for male workers it is only about 2.86 years on average. These disparities are generally experienced in all areas of promotion with average time taken to achieve store manager position being 10.12 years for female employees and 8.64 years for male employees (Drogin, 2003). Discussion of Evidence and the Problem The gender pay gap generated from the employment statistics in Wal-Mart chain store presents a human resource reality that cuts across many industries. An important factor that has resulted in the disparity in pay across gender is that there has been a historical occurrence in which men and women go for different occupations. Consequently, occupational variations can account for the pay that female and male employees get with researchers using terms such as occupational selection, occupational segregation or occupational crowding to refer to the phenomenon. More women can be found in occupations that are thought to offer low wages on average such as teaching, nursing, secretarial and retail sales clerks among others (Welle and Heilman, 2007; Boraas and Rodgers, 2003; Weinberg, 2007). Based on the gendered stereotypes about given jobs, it follows that the matching process for assigning jobs work against women and in favour of men in employment sectors that have the potential to offer higher returns in terms of remuneration and working conditions. The available jobs that confer the most power and are therefore coveted by both men and women are in almost all situations male gender-typed (Welle and Heilman, 2007; Boraas and Rodgers, 2003; Weinberg, 2007). This is phenomenon is true considering organizational leadership positions are not only overly populated by men but successful inhabitant of the jobs are in most cases described in classical masculine manner. It is for such reasons that the employment structure in Wal-Mart indicates that there are more women in the hourly working positions (65 percent) than are in the management positions (33 percent) (Collins and Feder, 2013). The statistics generated from the difference in pay among female and male employees indicate why the gender gap has not been eradicated a number of decades after women began entering the job market. It should be expected that gender pay gap should be at its minimum level in the modern times especially since the average educational level of women has improved with many of them going up to the highest levels of education. Further, many female employees have been employed for many years and have therefore accumulated the necessary expertise in their occupation. Most of the research undertaken to investigate how gender pay gap is affected by working experience have indicated a positive correlation between work experience and earnings of female employees (Boraas & Rodgers, 2003; Gabriel, 2005). Results generated from these research has indicated that the significant work experience that women have acquired since the 1980s can makes up for about one third of the overall reduction of the gender pay gap over that time. This figure corresponds with statistics from Wal-Mart employment and gender pay gap which indicated that work experience does not guarantee promotion or pay rise for female employees. Even in cases where female employees have been found to have accumulated more work experience as employees of Wal-Mart, more female workers still occupy the low paying hourly category at 65 percent than in management positions where they are only about 33 percent (Collins and Feder, 2013). Further, even with the higher levels of work experience, female employees are still being paid lower wages compared to male employees even when they occupy the same job positions. For instance, female cashiers are paid about $13831 while male cashiers receive $14525 yet they occupy the same position in addition to the fact that women have a higher average of years within Wal-Mart employment and therefore record a low turnover rate (Drogin, 2003). Drolet and Mumford (2012) note organizations should invest significant resources in developing strategies to tackle discrimination based on gender in order to reduce the wage gap between male and female workers. According to the authors, such policies should also include efforts to decrease wage variations for workers whose productivity is equal. Additionally, there is need for an increased access to women’s employment opportunities in job positions considered well paying. This is true for the Wal-Mart employment statistics given that considering the entry level in top management is the management trainee position, there is a need to make this level accessible to more women. Figures from the Wal-Mart statistics indicates that only 41.3 percent of female employees entered the management trainee category in the year ending 2001. Given that most of the management trainees are picked from the hourly employees, the Wal-Mart management can increase access to female workers so that more of them are absorbed within the management posts. Further, if the requirements for female and male employees to be considered for management trainee is the same, both genders should get equal pay and not $23175 for female and $22371 for male employee that is a common practice (Drogin, 2003). Conclusion From the critical analysis of the gender differences in terms of the payment that employees of Wal-Mart receive, gender pay gap is still part of discrimination practices in the modern workplace where female employees are still poorly remunerated compared to their male counterparts. It has been determined that the low pay that female employees receive is due to a number of factors are have over the years put them at a disadvantage. Among the reasons of the existing pay gap between female and male employees is the fact that they occupy lower employment positions in the workplace. However, even in cases where they occupy similar positions as their male counterparts, they still get a lower pay rate than male employees. Work experience has also been found to have a small impact on the gender pay gap and can be blamed for the slow rate that expected reduction of the pay gap is being achieved. Consequently, gender pay gap as an aspect of discrimination of female employees is an enduring problem in human resource management that managers need to introduce strategies to tackle in order to take full advantage of the skills, talent and experience that female employees possess. References Boraas, S. & Rodgers, W. (2003) How does gender play a role in the earnings gap? Monthly Labor Review, 9-15. Collins, B., & Feder, J. (2013) Pay equity: Legislative and legal developments. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Drogin, R. (2003) Statistical analysis of gender patterns in Wal-Mart workforce. Submitted as expert report in Dukes v. Walmart Stores, No. C, 01-02252. Drolet, M. & Mumford, K. (2012) The Gender Pay Gap for Private-Sector Employees in Canada and Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations 50, 529–553. Gabriel, P.E. (2005) The effects of differences in year-round, full-time labor market experience on gender wage levels in the United States. International Review of Applied Economics, 19(3), 369-377. Lips, H. M. (2003) The gender pay gap: Concrete indicator of womens progress toward equality, Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 3(1), 87-109. Weinberg, D. (2007) Earnings by gender: Evidence from Census 2000. Monthly Labor Review, 25-34. Welle, B. & Heilman, M. E. (2007) Formal and informal discrimination against women at work, Research in social issues in management: Managing social and ethical issues in organizations, 229-252. Read More