What is Managerial Economics - Essay Example

Number Managerial Economics Differences in pay between males and females The main causes of differences in pay between the males and females can be many factors. The main factor can be the number of hours that are worked by females is less as compare to males. The hour wage earners then earn according to the number of hours worked and therefore the male employees earn more than females as females cannot invest that much of time at work. The long job timings may not be feasible for married women that have other responsibilities apart from their job. The occupational choice for females is different than that of males. The females may not aim for high salaries at the beginning of their careers as they have future plans of settling a family whereas males aim for extremely high salaries and strive hard to get there. The height of aim possessed by both the genders also reflects upon the amount of earnings that they are able to get in the business world. Many organisations may show biasness against men and women. The men in these organisations may be favored more for their competency and performance level as compared to females. The males are considered as satisfying the customers in a better way as compared to females and therefore they are paid high against female employees. The female employees working at a higher designation in the organisations are expected that they may be taking maternity leaves and later on child nursing leaves more frequently and this is not the case with male employees, therefore the males are paid higher salaries than the female employees. The gender gap in the pay issues are related to the gender differences that are present and this causes differences in the entitlements of pay that is set up for both genders. Men are entitled to be more worthy of pay than women in most of the societies. One of the factors are that while negotiating the starting salaries at different jobs the male candidates tend to negotiate salaries many times more as compared to the female candidates who easily settle down on a low pay. Male employees negotiate their entire compensation packages in greater details as they have to run their families by looking at all the elements and benefits they are receiving from the organisation as compared to female employees who may not bother in detail about the benefits in detail. The male employees are willingly ready for taking up jobs that are physically dangerous whereas female employees may show definite reluctance in this case. Therefore this is also the reason that male employees are preferred more for physical jobs and also paid highly because of the level of risk involved in the jobs. Disparity in pay, apart from the above mentioned may be due to the religion, race and color of the male and female employees that apply for the jobs. One factor may take over the other and cause the disparity to occur in the level of pay received by both male and female employees in the organisations. Differences in the gap between the ratios of male to female earnings in different parts of the country The differences in gaps between the ratios of male to female earnings in different parts of the country are because of the job nature and job types available in the different area. In some areas, female employment may not be promoted to a large extent and therefore jobs may not be available in sufficient level as compared to the jobs of the male. Teaching in universities or schools may be according to the number of schools and universities present in each area of the country and accordingly the level of female employment may increase. Therefore the ratios may have vast differences present. Females may be offered low wage designations in the teaching institutions and they may not be preferred over male in some areas. Women have increased level of percentages in the areas of academics but still they are hired for short term contracts or are given jobs that are low paid. The market power in some areas may be highly influential over others and this may cause them to be constraining the female employees from paying higher than men employees. At times in some areas, the power of labor and the pay reviewing bodies may be acting as barriers and forcing the act of gender discrimination to take place in the issues of wages to employees. In different areas, different labor powers may be operating and therefore the women in all areas may not be getting the standard pay or salaries that are required for the job. Top designations are usually occupies by the male employees in most of the areas as they think that women don’t deserve such a position. It has been observed that women earn comparatively lower scores in finance courses as compared to men. Men tend to grasp number subjects well and have a high GPA in finance courses. This may also be one of the reasons that mostly finance jobs may be available in some areas and therefore female employment may be low in those areas or the organisations may consider the male candidates to be more appropriate for finance jobs than female candidates and therefore may give jobs to only male candidates. In some areas of the region the wage gap percentages are higher than the previous areas. This difference is because of the growth issues of men being higher in those areas than women. The men charge exorbitantly higher prices in the top designations and not much is left for the people at the lower level. The gap in the wages have been observed to narrow down in the early years of the 2002 and 2003 and this has been due to the hourly earnings that were being earned by both the genders. The wage gap increased in some of the areas because of the occupation of both the genders such as male being offered the managerial and senior official positions or the associate professional positions which the women were not being offered. Factors which might explain the existence of a so called glass ceiling The glass ceiling, in terms of economics is usually defined as the situations where a qualified person is not promoted to higher levels because of some type of discrimination present such as in this case discrimination against gender. Discrimination in glass ceiling issues can be of sexism and racism which prevents the person from advancing to higher levels in the organisation. The glass ceiling in this case is occurring due to the differences in gender, the male employees are paid higher than the female employees. The differences are present even though the job titles may be the same, the experience of both the genders may be the same, their education and profession may be the same but just due to the gender differences the male may be paid more than the females. As discussed above many organisations prefer male employees over female employees because and this factor prevents female employees to advance further in the organisations or in their careers towards the top level. The male employees hold all the top management positions in majority of the organisations and they don’t promote the female candidates. Male candidates give a better evaluation to males for the top most positions, lower wages and designations are given to the female candidates. It is also observed that the female present in the committee or in the board members tends to provide a positive evaluation for the female candidates. They tend to develop strong interpersonal relationships with the female candidates, therefore the female candidates get a strong edge if there are women present in the evaluation committee. This is so the case because women tend to feel and depict similar characteristics in other women that have applied for the job and this allows them to give them a better evaluation. The female candidates are able to break the glass ceiling in these circumstances. There have been researchers that have conducted their own investigations and research work and they have stated that there is a difference in the way black and white players are treated during the NBA games. Own race referees are preferred more than opposite race referees. This shows that female have a tendency to support the other female rather than going against her. This way the women are able to break the glass ceiling that prevents them from progressing further in their careers (Goldberg 598). Strategies that the UK government and the EU might put in place to bring about a narrowing of the pay differentials between males and females The strategies that the UK government and the EU may imply towards narrowing down the pay differentials between male and female citizens in the country is by monitoring the pay related bodies and negotiating stronger terms with them so that they agree to the equal pay issues between both gender jobs. The pay related bodies may tend to have deeper impact on the society and they may be able to reduce the problems of the wage gap to a very large extent in the society. The strategies that the UK government has implied towards narrowing the pay differentials are that they have formed a body of Women and Wok Commission (WWC) which consists of the employers, the different unions, and the various experts that allow the problem of gender pay difference to be discussed and possible solutions to be deduced by all members present in the body. When all the people of different designations sit together to deduce solutions then there are chances of highly probable solutions to be worked upon for reducing the gender wage gap in the country. Government action plans have resulted due to this initiative and quality work related matter has been initiated, and this has enforced work to take place that is free from all types of stereotyping such as different gender issues as well. This initiative will allow the gender wage gaps to be reduced immensely. When gender discrimination may be realized as not a feasible option then many people may avoid this biasness of gender (Lazear 35). The government needs to form a gender equality checklist that keeps a strong control and balance on the organisations so that they do not discriminate against any gender or do not show any partiality towards any specific gender. Gender equality checklist may allow the organisations to work in a systematic manner while planning their policies and regulation for the organisation and the employees. The Work and families Act have given the adults the rights to work flexibly to earn their living; this allows the pay differentials to narrow down as both gender works according to their flexibility and according to their family status. Women may have to adjust their timings as they have families to look after and may not be able to invest in longer working hours at work. The Equality Act 2006 has been introduced to eliminate the discrimination issues related to gender and also to eliminate the harassment issues that take place at work. Many other social communities can be formed that may be working towards reducing the gender wage gaps that are taking place in the country. Social communities become easy for the people to approach and discuss their case comprehensively. Many awareness and training campaigns can be launched by the government so that they reduce the gender wage gaps that pertain in the country. Gender discrimination should be regarded as highly unlawful in the country and organisations should be constantly monitored by the government so that the huge wage gap can be prevented from taking place. Equal employment opportunities and benefits should be provided for everyone so that the deserving candidate can get the suitable position without and wage discrimination or gender discrimination. The gender wage gap is an important issue that needs to be addressed by proper measures by the government. Reducing the glass ceiling due to disparity in gender is important for the government of United Kingdom. All employees deserve to be treated equally and be given the wages on a fair basis. Works Cited Goldberg, Caren B. “Relational Demography and Similarity Attraction in Interview Assessments and Subsequent Other Decisions.” Group and Organization Marketing, Vol. 30 (2005): 597-624 Print. Lazear, Edward P. and Rosen, Sherwin.” Male-Female Wage Differentials in Job Ladders.” Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 8(1990): 34-36. Print. Read More