The Equal Pay for Men and Women - Term Paper Example

The equal pay for men and women That women make less money than men do for similar jobs is a fact in many situations in the United Kingdom. Several studies have shown it to be true and have offered explanations for the trend. Figures concerning the size of the wage gap between men and women range anywhere from approximately 18 to 27 percent. Regardless of the job type, whether the skills involved require a minimum or a maximum amount of training, a woman who has all the skills necessary to perform highly in a given position will (almost without fail) attract a lower wage compensation than her male counterpart. Recognising the biased nature of the wage situation, several attempts have been made on the part of the UK government and other equal-rights organisations to remove the inequality, but limited progress has been made until now. Rather, the situation persists despite the fact that laws have been passed to discourage this practice1. Theories for the existence and persistence of this problem are many. Some blame the lower level of education or other kind of training possessed by women; others to the willingness of women to accept initial wage offers. Still others attribute the wage gap to problems in the labour market or to the alternate responsibilities of women as mothers or child-carers. Whatever the reason: occupational segregation, sex discrimination, or other; it is evident that even today the labour market is constructed in a way that allows women to be poorly paid for a job that they do as well as the men who work alongside them. One study describes wage discrimination as stemming from the “crowding [of] women into a limited range of occupations” (Walby and Olsen, 2002, p. 41). This is also known as occupational segregation. Women have made great strides in the working world since their general entrance into the workforce, which occurred only recently. However, they still have much to do in order to be considered on the same level as men. In the British Virgin Islands, poverty “has been especially associated with female headed households because of the concentration of women in lower paying jobs” (Status of Women, 2005). This type of “crowding” is typical all over the United Kingdom. Women are forced into menial or low-skilled jobs, largely because many do not possess the education or skill to fill higher positions. This is especially true of older women, who lived in a generation where women were much less likely to attain higher levels of education. As a result, women find themselves in general receiving less money than men. This scenario, however, does not account for the many women who are as skilled as the men they work with, yet receive much lower wages. Evidence supports the claim by Grimshaw et al. that there exists a “need for a multi-faceted approach to closing the average gender pay gap” (2001, p. 209). This is true in several areas where sex discrimination occurs. According to Iona Heath (2004), general practitioner at Caversham Group Practice in London, women doctors earn an average of about 20.7% lower than men in the same position. A similar situation exists in universities. According to research done in 2004 by the Association of University Teachers (AUT), the wage gap is lower in academia than in other sections of the employment world. However, it is possible to argue that at 15% the average is still embarrassingly high in that section of the employment world that is populated with the so-called progressive intellectuals who should be doing much better at leading the UK to a more gender-equal economy. In fact, as that percentage represents only the average, it has to be noted that several higher-educational institutions pay women at a rate much lower than 85% of what is given to men. The same AUT research reported that The University of Wales College of Medicine pays women at a rate of 33% lower than men who hold similar positions (2004, p. 7). In addition, several other institutions had the wage gap above 20 percent. Another interesting finding of that study was that “Women academics in UK higher education are over-represented in lower graded jobs and under-represented in the higher grades” (2004, p. 8. AUT). It was found that for most universities, up to 43% of lower-grade lecturer positions were held by women, compared with on 12% of professor positions. The fact that women entered the workforce at a much more recent stage compared to men does have a lot to do with this under-representation of women in the higher positions, and can be seen as a legitimate contributor to the wage gap. However, within grades, it was also seen that most women were at the lower end of the pay range (2004). In most other employment areas it was also found that the higher the base pay at a given level, the fewer the women who occupied positions at that level. This gender-wage inequality naturally carries over into the world of pensioners, where sex discrimination and occupational segregation have an even greater effect. In fact, “the pay gap which already exists between men and women during their working lives becomes a vast pension gulf in later life” (BBC, 2003). The result is that, on a whole, women pensioners are poorer than male pensioners. In fact, according to the same report, women receive “just 32p for every £1 of income received by men in a pensioner couple” (2003). Many women suffer from this disadvantage in pension rates because of interruptions in their service in the labour force due to maternity and child/home care, and also because of receiving lower pay in their working years via the same occupational segregation and sex discrimination. Research shows that 45% of all women work part time and 25% of those who do are shop and care assistants or cleaners (US-UK pensions dialogue). Across the board, women suffer from the effects of lower wages. It has been found through research that “in every country in the world, women continue to be paid less for comparable work than men” (Women work more). Although the government has been taking action to revalue the jobs that women do2, the current state of affairs leaves women poorer than men at almost every level. Women have been disadvantaged for many reasons, but arguments everywhere are that women are victims of sex discrimination and occupational segregation. To those who say women choose their own fate by opting for lower positions or accepting low first offers, Smithson et al. (2004) responds: “People’s ‘choices’ are shaped by their perception of their options, [as] structured by the socioeconomic context, state policies and other social institutions.” Furthermore, it is also seen that where women are qualified and do complete the same work as men, they are still paid at a lower rate. Women in such professional areas as medicine and education earn as much as a third less than men who are no more qualified than they are. These points make it clear that, in the job market, injustices exist that the equal pay laws enacted have failed to rectify. Women are indeed being treated unfairly under the current UK employment system and do not have equal pay. Bibliography BBC. 2003. “UK: Women facing pension misery.” Global Action on Aging. http://www.globalaging.org/pension/world/womenpension.htm “Equality clause.” Equal Pay Act 1970– United Kingdom. International Labour Organization. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/gems/eeo/law/uk/epa.htm “Gender-pay gap in UK higher education, The 2001-2.” 2004. Association of University Teachers. http://www.aut.org.uk/media/pdf/genderpaygap01-02.pdf Grimshaw, D. and Rubery, J. 2001 The Gender Pay Gap: A Research Review. Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission. Heath, Iona. 2004 “Continuing unequal status of women may reduce the influence of the profession.” Women in Medicine. 412-413. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full329/7463/412 Smithson, J. Susan Lewis, Cary Cooper, and Jackie Dyer. 2004. Flexible working and the gender pay gap in the accountancy profession. Work, employment and society. 18(1). 115-135. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://wes.sagepub.com/cgi/ reprint/18/1/115 “Status of women in the British Virgin Islands, The.” 2004. Development Planning Unit of the British Virgin Islands. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://www.dpu.gov.vg/Plans/StatusWomen/sw6.htm “UK: Single status agreement and agenda for change.” 2004. Pay equity case studies. PSI. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://www.world-psi.org/UK “US-UK pensions dialogue.” AARP. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://www.aarp.org/ special_static/usukpensionsdialogue/conf_papers/remarks/06_MLewisppt.pdf Walby, Silvia and Wendy Olsen. 2001. “The impact of women’s position in the labour market on pay and implications for UK productivity.” Women and equality unit: Department of Trade and Industry. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/publications/5818_weu_pay_prod_su mmary.pdf “Women work more, but are still paid less.” 1995. Communication. International Labour Organization. Retrieved December 30, 2005, http://www.ilo.org/public/english/ bureau/inf/pr/22.htm Read More