2008 Woodie Awards
Country still struggling with equality between genders
After years of inequality in the work force, gap between men and women wages remains
AMY RENEE PETERSEN
Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Features
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As well, more women than men are earning Bachelor's degrees, but still men are the primary breadwinners of today's society.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women earn an average of 77 cents for every dollar that their male counterpart receives.
As far as location, Washington D.C. exhibits the most equality between men and women's pay in the U.'S. There, women gain 91 cents for every dollar men see.
"In each of the major industry sectors," reported the U.S. Census Bureau News, "men earned more than women.
The sectors where the earnings gap between men and women was the largest were management of companies and enterprises, where women earned 54 cents for every dollar that men earned."
However, in contrast, the U.S. Census Bureau reflected that "women's earnings as a percentage of men's earnings were about 90 percent or higher for the following groups: installation, maintenance and repair, community and social services, construction and extraction and healthcare support."
University of Maryland's Gender Issues Women's Study Database department remarked that the issue is not women being employed in jobs that pay less, but rather women work "fewer hours in the week and fewer weeks in the year than their male counterparts."
But when it comes right down to it, at the end of the day women consistently bring home a thinner paycheck for the same level of work than men do.
Hours worked is only a facet of the issue, not the driving point.
University professor Rita Bradshaw-Beyers responded, saying that, "given that it's gone on for so many thousands of years that women have been considered inferior to men," stopping only to consider how long gender inequality in the workforce will continue, "it's probably going to take a while."
Though, the apparent shift in college attendance could make a difference. PBS NewsHour reported that, at this rate, in 10 years "three million more women than men could be attending college."
This certainly would shift the balance in the positions women hold, but even though there would be more women in higher-paying fields, the men that remain in those positions could still have higher wages.
"I hate to be pessimistic," continued Bradshaw-Beyers, "maybe within this century we'll see equal pay among women and men. I'm thinking only in America. In other places around the world it could take as many as 500 years."
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