Gender Wage Disparity in the Healthcare Sector - Essay Example

Gender Wage Disparity in the Healthcare Sector Introduction The disparity in the pay for men and women has remained a controversial issue in various industries across the globe. This has formed part of a number of affirmative action efforts by female rights crusader in different parts of the world. Despite similarity in educational background, field experience and access to similar facilities, women in different sectors of the economy have been significantly underpaid. It is common knowledge that women chief executive officers earn less as compared to the male counterparts (Caliendo, Lee & Mahlstedt, 2014). The same situation has also been replicated in other industries such as manufacturing, healthcare and education. Gender pay disparity has been associated to a number of factors, which have been discussed in various research publications. In this paper, the gender pay disparity within the healthcare industry will be evaluated based on the different professions within the industry and the disparity that exist in their pay. The paper will also discuss various approaches that can be used to seal the gender pay gap and create uniformity and motivation across the two genders. Gender pay disparity within the healthcare Within the healthcare industry, women have traditionally been considered to fit well into the nursing profession, an area that is considered auxiliary to the mainstream medical profession. As a result, nurses and other medical professionals such as clinical officers, laboratory technologists and other technical staff within the facility have a high population of women. However, access to equal educational opportunities has seen an increase in women medical doctors, men nurses and equal representation of the two genders in the different healthcare professions. Despite this gender progress, women have continued to receive minimal pay as compared to their male colleagues in the same job groups (Hook, Hagan, & Pettit, 2009). One of the core oiling factors in the gender inequality issue in or societies that have led to the determination of the responsibilities for the two genders is stereotypes. This has remained as the major determinant in the social inequality issue as it has continued to build on the perception that men are superior to women and should therefore be responsible for superior roles in the society. Our language that gives the male gender more dominance as compared to the male gender has supported this stereotype and this has led to a new definition for their roles (Caliendo, Lee & Mahlstedt, 2014). Women surgeons and doctors in the United States, for example, earn 71% of the total amount pocketed by their male counterparts. As captured in the words of President Barack Obama, women take home 77 cents for every dollar pocketed by a mean colleague in the same job group and similar educational qualification. Men doctors are respected as this is considered as their primary professional domain while women were found within the nursing profession. Men would join medical schools while women would be forced into nursing colleges during the 20th century. This contributed to the low number of female doctors during this period. However, civil rights campaigns and affirmative actions have led to an increase in the number of women doctors. However, the system has failed to appreciate their unique qualities and experiences and pay them in the same way as their male counterparts (Hook, Hagan, & Pettit, 2009). However, pharmacists in the United States and the United Kingdom have had an improved decline in the pay disparity as compared to other professions within the healthcare sector. Female pharmacists take home 91 cents for every dollar pocketed by their male counterparts. This has been attributed to the current growth of the discipline, which did not allow male dominance to continue for a long time. Women joined various pharmacies training institute at the inception and this has contributed to a significant number of female pharmacists. With a large number of pharmacists, the efforts to pacify the pay and reduce the gender gap have borne fruits (Hook, Hagan, & Pettit, 2009). Apart from the pharmacy profession, respiratory therapist in the United Kingdom has a relatively small wage gap as compared to other disciplines in the sector. For example, women in this sector earn 106% of the total wage that men are subjected in the country. This is more than 6% of the men’s salary, which depicts positive progress due to affirmative action in the country and in the sector. Respiratory therapy is a new field that is undergoing refining and development, thus allowing all the genders to benefit and achieve similar wages (Caliendo, Lee & Mahlstedt, 2014). Why gender wage disparity exist in healthcare sector The persistence in the gender wage gap despite the affirmative actions that have been introduced has been attributed to a number of factors. It is no longer the gender of healthcare workers that matters in the persistence of the wage disparity, but that of the employer too. Gender disparity according to national labour statistics persists in situations where men manage women. With more men occupying high-level management positions within the healthcare sector, the level of disparity will remain a major challenge in the United Kingdom and other countries. In men working under women, the same trend was also noted, tough the implication is less as compared with men in charge (Hook, Hagan, & Pettit, 2009). Men are flexible and have more hands-on energy as compared to their female counterparts, a situation that enables them to work full time. However, women are less likely to adopt a full time employment schedule due to various feminist commitments, which affects the level of their pay. Employing women increases the need for an organization to have backup employees to sit in for them in case of biological leaves such as maternal (Friot & Clasquin, 2013). This increases the human resource management of the organization, thus forcing companies to pay women less as compared to their male counterparts. Therefore, women are penalized for doubling as homemakers and employees who attempt to build their careers and compete with men in the same profession (Caliendo, Lee & Mahlstedt, 2014). Men employees who are fathers receive a pay rise due to the assumption that their responsibilities have increased. Women on the other hand are penalized for having children due to the resource burden it presents to the business owners. Women with children on the other hand earn 2.5% less than they on the other hand earn their female counterparts who have not conceived while working for the same company. Most labour indicative surveys lamp women from various industries and evaluate their wages, irrespective of their employment terms of reference. Women are dominant within the part time casual or non-career professions, a situation that contribute to their low as compared to male. With the society demanding that women meet their social responsibility as mothers, part time and casual employment schemes are the best alternative. However, such pay program pay less and demand more from the workers as compared to permanent and formal employment engagements. This contributes to the existing gender pay gap in different industries across the world especially in the developed economies like the United Kingdom and the United States (Friot & Clasquin, 2013). Men and women have traditionally occupied different professions and this contributed to the wage gap that has existed over the years despite the interventions adopted. According to the bureau of labour statistics, a number of professions in the United States have witnessed widespread gender disparity. Industries such as property and real estate, financial consultancy, management, marketing and insurance sales have higher number of women as compared to men. Within the healthcare sector, the work arrangement is also unsupportive and this push women to less paying specialties such as nursing and health records management (Romich, Meyers, Plotnick & Smith, 2010). Hospitals operate 24 hours a day and this favours male employees as compared to their female counterparts. Female employees or job seekers are forced to go for less paying but flexible job openings, a situation that continue to widen the gap. Most part time and casual position within the healthcare sector has limited training and employee development opportunities, a situation that affects career growth and promotion. As a result, female employees have continued to stagnate in the same position while earning the same wage as compared to their progressive and flexible male counterparts (Friot & Clasquin, 2013). Disparity in the wages has also been attributed to the sex segregation of the labour market in which women and men are clustered into different sectors of the economy based on stereotypic reasoning. Despite the high educational qualification, the valuation of women is based on non-factual consideration with arguments that women are incapable of handling complex jobs such as engineering and aviation. Equal pay measures have also been developed to mitigate this situation but the progress has remained dominant due to lack of cohesive measures (Romich, Meyers, Plotnick & Smith, 2010). Closing the pay gap in the healthcare industry Addressing the wage gap within the healthcare industry in the United Kingdom and other countries such as the United States is a major goal of various regimes. However, lack of political goodwill and commitment to the process has protracted the process and lengthened the struggles of female employees across different sectors. A number of approaches exist that can be adopted especially within the healthcare industry to reduce the level of wage gap among the genders (Davies, 2011). First, the issue of the minimum wage that has remained controversial in different countries should be addressed by raising it to a universal level. Women make a majority of the low wageworkers due to their tough schedules and family based commitments. This contributes to their low salaries and continues to push the wage gap further apart despite the safeguards that have been put in place so far. With a high minimum wage, hardworking women will have a better opportunity to advance their careers and improve the situation for their families. Majority of women are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, a situation that increases the pressure on them to improve their overall performance within the workplace and earn significant amount of money (Friot & Clasquin, 2013). Today, because of the gender weakness stereotype, the roles for women and men have been significantly affected and influenced and this has contributed to the social inequality. According to a sociology survey, 90% of nurses remain female while 85% of engineers remain male due to the strengths that these careers have been given. Engineering is still viewed as a male area with massive responsibilities and requirements beyond the female gender. On the other hand, nursing is considered as a weak course that few men are willing to major in for fear of being seen as too weak and having characters reminiscent of the female gender (Scott & Jackson, 2006). Progress has been made to ensure that equal opportunities are provided to women as men are and this has led to a significant increase in the number of women in a workplace. However, a number of organizations in different countries across the globe continue to adopt practices that demonstrate the impacts of social inequalities especially gender inequality. Despite earning the chance to work in organizations previously dominated men, the women have been confined to roles which have been viewed as weak enough to suit their gender Tipped workers also contribute to the high wage gap within the healthcare sector, an area that can be targeted for improving the overall situation for female employees (Davies, 2011). The tipped minimum wage has not been reviewed since 1991 and this explains the ever-rising wage gap in the United States and other countries. According to a report by the economic policy institute, women constitute two thirds of the total employees within the tipped workers category. For example, women work within the hospital canteens, offer palliative care to patients and this affect their economic growth due to the minimal wages established by the different countries (Friot & Clasquin, 2013). One of the core oiling factors in the gender inequality issue in or societies that have led to the determination of the responsibilities for the two genders is stereotypes. This has remained as the major determinant in the social inequality issue as it has continued to build on the perception that men are superior to women and should therefore be responsible for superior roles in the society. In a situation where an individual’s gender is unknown, the term ‘he’ has always being used due to its universality and applicability to all the genders (Romich, Meyers, Plotnick & Smith, 2010). Conclusion The government must also commit to supporting fair scheduling practices as a way of encouraging women to join other high paying jobs within the healthcare industry. This will allow women to work in major jobs such as medical doctors while still finding time to take care for their families as the society demands. Closing the wage gap can only be possible if women are empowered to be able to pick various job placements that are currently inaccessible due to high flexibility (Davies, 2011). The government should also commit to supporting pay transparency as a way reducing pay gap between the genders. Most organizations have continued to pay women less as compared to men due to lack of a policy, which forces them to publish their pay level. For example, the pay check fairness act would be essential in dealing with the secrecy that has enabled different healthcare facilities to pay women less income as compared to their male counterparts. This will contribute towards the elimination of gender pay gap, which continue to affect the productivity of female employees. References Caliendo, M, Lee, W, & Mahlstedt, R., 2014. The gender wage gap: does a gender gap in reservation wages play a part? New York: Nova Science. Davies, A., 2011. Gender gap: causes, experiences and effects, New York: Nova Science Publishers. Friot, B, & Clasquin, B., 2013, The wage under attack: employment policies in Europe, Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang. Hook, J, Hagan, J, & Pettit, B., 2009. The gender wage gap, Gendered Trade-offs : Women, Family, and Workplace Inequality in Twenty-One Countries. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Romich, J, Meyers, M, Plotnick, R, & Smith, S., 2010. The gender wage gap, a west coast poverty centre volume. 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