According to the U.S. government, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was established to “prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce” (The Equal 6). …show more content…
Women of minority fall especially short when compared to white men. Hispanic women earn 89% of what Hispanic men make, but only receive 54% of what a white man makes. African American women receive 90% of African American men earnings while only making 63% of what white men make. It is clear that whites are making more money than any other race, as white women earn 78% of a white man’s earning (Hill 6). According to Claudia Goldin, who is a labor economist at Harvard, the pay gap is still noticeable for the same exact job. For example, female surgeons and doctors only earn 71% of the amount that male surgeons and doctors make (Lipman 21). In Florida, women earn 85 cents for every dollar that a man makes, which accumulates to about $6,203 less per year of a man’s salary. This is statistically better than last year, when Floridian women only earned 84 cents to the dollar and the salary difference was $6,687 (Pounds 3). Although the gender pay gap may be decreasing in Florida, men are still dominating the workplace as they earn an average of $40,971 a year for working full time compared with $38,768 for full time working women (Pounds 2). Women with the same doctoral degree as men only received 79% of their earning and women with the same professional degree as men received 74% (Hill 8). Men continue to prosper while women are being treated …show more content…
The U.S. government is supposed to step in when inequality is occurring, yet the gender pay gap is in full effect. According to The Partnership, a nonprofit advocacy group, the proposed Paycheck Fairness Act should be implemented. This act would close any loopholes in The Equal Pat act, which would, in turn, provide stronger for women while in the workplace (Pounds 8). The Securities and Exchange Commission required companies to expose their C.E.O. pay gaps, which is what all companies need to do so that they are aware of the gender pay gaps (Lipman 2). In Britain it is required that companies with 250 workers or more disclose their gender pay gaps (Lipman 9). This allows the company to step in and make changes when they see that women are not treated equal when it comes to pay. For example, the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers provided their gender pay gap and realized that there were not a great deal of women in senior jobs. By 2014, the amount of women in senior positions more than doubled (Lipman 12). If companies disclose their gender pay gaps then the gender pay gap will decrease and equality for women in the workplace can be