This is something I wrote for my WR 121 class that I took this year. It was my Final, and I was finally allowed to develop my own agrument. (All the papers before that we were not) Out of the topics we were allowed to write about, I chose this one. Unfortunately, I did not know my teacher was a feminist. Lol. But I tried to keep as much of my opinion in their as possible. I hope you read/enjoy? =]

           

The greatly debated issue of the gender pay gap has existed for decades. Before women acquired suffrage and achieved the right to vote, there was turmoil over the disparity in wages between female and male workers. Women were earning far less than men doing the same job. This gap became more apparent as women established their role in society. No longer were they exclusively in the home, for they had entered the work force. Now, the pay gap has been decreasing, but their still is not parity.

In an attempt to uncover and resolve the mystery surrounding the cause of the gender pay gap, there have been many studies done. The General Accounting Office, American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and various other organizations and individuals have contributed funding, time, and effort into trying to uncover the cause of the gender pay gap. Maria Karamessini and Elias Ioakimoglou tried to create the perfect equation using hundred of variables for determining the gender pay gap in their paper “Wage determination and the gender pay gap: A feminist political economy analysis and decomposition”. Many statistical and economic analyses have brought a few conflicting outcomes: the cause is because of gender discrimination, or the cause is inconclusive with the data that was found. Neither assessment is entirely accurate. The data provided from the studies made by those organizations is inconclusive simply because it cannot be measured. The reasons for the gender pay gap cannot be accurately calculated because of unknown variables, individual choices, and qualitative variables.

Statistical analysis has shown that there is an inexplicable difference in pay between men and women in the most controlled of studies. In 2003, the GOA was asked to examine and discover why these differences existed. They did an in-depth study over the disparity in pay between men and women. The GAO concluded in their general summary of Women’s Earnings: “Work Patterns Partially Explain Difference between Men’s and Women’s Earnings”:  “While we were able to account for much of the difference in earnings between men and women, we were not able to explain the remaining earnings difference. It is difficult to evaluate this remaining portion without a full understanding of what contributes to this difference” (3). Basically, they cannot make an accurate conclusion from the variables they tested.

Other organizations do not look at this data as purely inexplicable data. They see it as something with more meaning: proof of discrimination against women. The AAUW also did a study in 2007, and they found “An extensive body of research also finds that some gap in pay between women and men is unexplained … Many have attributed the unexplained portion to gender discrimination” (33). There is little statistical evidence to support this claim. What evidence has been found is simply what it is: unexplained.

            The fact that it is inexplicable does not prove there is discrimination, unlike what the AAUW affirmed. In their study they stated that bigotry could not be diametrically calculated, and the only way to determine it was to eradicate all other reasons: “Discrimination cannot be measured directly. One way to discover discrimination is to eliminate other explanations” (27). What percentage that is found leftover is inexplicable, not evidence of discrimination. It also does not-prove not there is not discrimination.

The calculations that determine disproportion in wages are analyzing a varied group of women and men: mothers, bachelors, college graduates, high school dropouts, musicians, and vice presidents of major companies. They are all individuals who make unique individual choices. A woman can make a personal choice to stay home with children, or to move if her partner received a better job in another location, same as a man can.  While it requires personal sacrifice in their careers, it is not discrimination against the person making that decision. They chose to give up their career for something else. Feminists, psychologists, and sociologists argue that this is due to the way society is set up, and the mind set that comes from this. Even if that is the case, it does not prove that women are being forced to make the kind of choices they are making. The GAO stated in their analysis, “An earnings difference that results from individuals’ decisions about how to manage work and family responsibilities may not necessarily indicate a problem unless these decisions are not freely made” (3).

The AAUW does disagree with that statement, saying that often men and women do not recognize the pay gap and end up discrediting the idea (AAUW 3). In the study the AAUW published, they found that women would leave for longer periods of time than the men:

Women were more than twice as likely to take leave and [were] paid leave for child care, regardless of employment status. Among those who took leave for child care, women stayed out more than three months longer than men did. Full-time employed women were more likely than men to leave the labor force entirely (16 percent of women and 6 percent of men) or spend more time working part time. (26)

Women left work for their children, making the personal decision to leave. They felt it was in their best interest to leave work, while the men did not. They valued staying with their children and taking care of them, while the men valued working more. Even if it was because of social expectations, the woman made the choice to go and fulfill those obligations.

            Finally, many of the variables that go into calculating the gender pay differentiation are qualitative. There is no numeric value that can accurately calculate a woman’s choice to stay home with her children, or difference in education, or even in skill levels. The GAO even stated that it was very complicated and often unfeasible to “precisely measure and quantify individual decisions and possible discrimination” and it became convoluted to try to elucidate those disparities (GAO 3). These factors that are dependent upon individual choice, skill level, and any other unknown variables are not measurable. That does not mean these factors do not exist or are not driving forces in the gender pay gap. What it does mean is that without those numbers, there cannot be any calculating of the gender pay gap, and no percentage can be formulated to equalize the disparity between men and women. An individual choice can not be assigned a numeric value, especially not to the person who made it. Those choices have much more meaning than what a number could dictate.

This differentiation in pay cannot be fixed with simply adjusting a rate or passing legislation to force companies to have a certain percentage of women in their office. The issue is too complex and has a vast number of components in it. If there is a way to get rid of the pay gap, it is to provide equal opportunity to men and women and to let the most qualified individual make the best decision. Whether or not they take the opportunity or make career-advancing decisions is left up entirely to the individual.

There is no fixed rate that can be legislated to make the gender pay gap disappear. The gender pay gap depends too greatly upon facts and statistics that simply do not have quantitative values. Unknown variables, individual choices, and factors such as education and skill levels cannot be judged with a rate. There are too many variables unknown, studies with inconclusive results, and too many men and women making very unique and personal decisions that affect their career choices.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Goldberg, Judy, and Catherine Hill. “Behind the Gap”. AAUW Educational Foundation. 2007. < http://www.aauw.org/research/upload/behindPayGap.pdf>

 “Women’s Earnings: Work Patterns Partially Explain Difference between Men’s and Woman’s Earnings”. The General Accounting Office. 2003.

< http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0435.pdf>.

Karamessini, Maria, and Elias Ioakimoglou. “Wage determination and the gender pay gap: A feminist political economy analysis and decomposition.” Feminist Economics 13.1 (Jan. 2007): 31-66. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 21 Nov. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24404394&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost-live>.