Addressing Gender Inequality in the Workplace
March is Women’s History Month— a time to celebrate women in all aspects of life including their accomplishments and the long history of the fight for gender equality. It’s no secret women have struggled to be seen as equals among men for centuries— especially women in the workplace. Women have fought a never-ending war on gender inequality in the workplace.
It wasn’t until 1911 when International Women’s Day was established as a holiday on March 8. At the time, women were protesting for voting rights and marched at our Nation’s capitol on March 3, 1913. However, it wasn’t until 1920 when women were granted voting rights in the United States. Overall, it took women centuries to earn the right to vote, with protests dating all the way back to the 1800s.
It was a great victory for women across the country— but the fight didn’t end there. Today, women are still breaking barriers and marching for women’s rights. Women continue to struggle with gender equality in healthcare, religion, the judicial system and the workforce.
About the gender wage gap…
In a study of women working full time in the U.S., “more than 55 million full-time working women earned an estimated $545.7 billion less than their male counterparts in 2019.” According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In 2018, women who worked full time in wage and salary jobs had median usual weekly earnings of $789, which represented 81.1 percent of men’s median weekly earnings ($973).” Particularly, Asian and White women earned higher incomes than Black and Hispanic women. Although the wage gap has decreased slightly over the years, there are still small percentages of women earning less than minimum wage at their hourly jobs. In 2019, the Paycheck Fairness Act was introduced. This Act would help protect employees from wage discrimination in many ways including salary discussion, wage-screening job applicants and provide training for negotiation skills in women and girls.
No matter the geographical location, every state has a gender wage gap, with women only earning 80 cents for every one dollar paid to men. Doesn’t seem like much? Well, this gap results in over a $10,000 income gap each year between men and women.
Great accomplishment comes with unfair treatment:
In 1961, Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb was the first woman to pass astronaut testing, which ultimately should have allowed her to go to space for research along with her male coworkers. However, Geraldyn was forbidden to travel to space by her male superiors who claimed there were just some things men could do that women could not do. It wasn’t until 1983 when the first American female went to space. Sally Ride flew on the Challenger and became the third woman in the world to go to space. Sally spent her career breaking barriers in the science field and giving women a voice. She died in 2012 and was later revealed to be the first gay astronaut.
Women make up majority of the workforce:
Although women began working in the early 1900s, it wasn’t until the Great Depression when employment rates for women began to rise, compared to the falling employment rates of men. Women worked as teachers, librarians, factory workers and clerks. Large numbers of women didn’t start entering the workforce until the 1950s, and women’s employment numbers peaked in the 60s and 70s as women took on a more dominating household role.
Two industries having a surge in female employment are healthcare and retail. Women have gained more control over household spending by entering the workforce, and have since “helped fuel the rise of the service sector, which includes healthcare, education and retail, all industries with lots of female employment.” However, women are more likely to work part time in comparison to men, due to child care needs. In today’s society, women are almost forced into choosing more flexible job roles to ensure the care of their children and household. The popular child care website, care.com, reported that over 70% of families spend more than 10% of their income on care, thus increasing income and wage gaps in those of working mothers.
Even through a substantial decline in working females in the early 2000s, women still make up the majority of the workforce with 73.5 million working women. On Demand Staffing Services is proud to represent women in the workplace with a female director leading the efforts to employ hundreds of people as well as match companies to job-seekers.