Cents on the Dollar The Facts about eh Gender Wage Gap - Book Report/Review Example

In the modern job sector, gender plays a critical role in determining wages. This implies that wage gaps still exist mainly because of gender differences. While a woman may be paid 78 cents for every dollar that a man earns, this statistic does not take into account the differences in the jobs that the two genders are involved in. Research has found out that by 2013, the most common jobs undertaken by women were middle school teachers and nursing (O’Brien, 2015). For males, the most common jobs were sales, driving, and supply chain managers.

Even when the individuals are involved in similar jobs, the women still get lower payment regardless of their number in relation to men. In the role of middle school teaching, women comprise approximately 70% of the employees although the available males make more by at least 13 cents (O’Brien, 2015). This makes big differences when calculating the annual income earned by both genders. There exists a 7% wage difference between women and men within the first year following graduation. This accumulates with time.

Pay increase for the women has been stagnating. Some of the factors contributing to this include that women make up the bigger percentage in the low paying jobs. Raising the minimum wage offered would mean significant expense increase for the companies. The article presents one of the most complex issues in the employment sector. This is because gender discrimination has been in existence for a long time and even laws have not been able to eliminate it. Employee compensation ought to be equal regardless of gender.

This is because even women have the capacity to undertake most of the highly demanding jobs in a similar manner as men would. Gender discrimination is available in various ways and an unequal salary is one of the most common ways through which it is exhibited. As long as the employees are involved in similar work environment, there is no excuse that the employer can raise to dispute the fact that the payment offered should be equal. To eliminate discrimination on gender grounds, offering equal wages would act as the first step.

Personally, I do not agree with the article. It is simply giving a reason to continue discriminating women on gender grounds. The article maintains that women are involved in different jobs as compared to men. However, it does not consider the idea that the different jobs that the women may be doing could be harder than those that men are involved in. For instance, nursing jobs are more demanding as compared to driving or sales work. This even means that women should be receiving better payment especially according to the occupation.

Although women are involved in majority in the low payment jobs, if the positions were occupied by men, the payment would be better. Therefore, I do not agree with most of the information provided in the article although it provides accurate information by stating that even in similar occupations, women are paid lower than men are. ReferencesO’Brien, S. A. (2015). 78 Cents on the Dollar: The Facts about eh Gender Wage Gap. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/13/news/economy/equal-pay-day-2015/index.html?iid=EL