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Mason Buffaloe

April 22, 2017

Professor Douglas

UWRT-1102

Gender Wage

In the modern business fields there are still some problems that affect equal pay between

men and women. Even though most businesses today try to keep an equal pay between co-

workers who have the same position, this isnt the case for all businesses throughout America.

This issue of the gender wage gap mainly is thought of coming from discrimination issues such

as racism or sexism in the workplace and can affect womens pay, but also other things such as

workload and certain treatment that they receive in an office that might be dominantly male

workers. However, when people think of the gender wage gap many people believe its caused

by men being sexist towards women workers. The other factor might be that women are more

risk-averse than men business workers. But whether its sexism or that maybe women are more

risk-averse than men the gender wage gap is still an issue within some of our businesses today.

When the gender wage gap is brought up many people think that its driven by

discrimination. However, in an article by Jessica Schieder and Elise Gould they state that,

skeptics contend that the gender wage gap is driven not by discrimination, but instead by

voluntary choices made by men and women- particularly the choice of occupation in which they

work. (Schieder and Gould) Meaning that most women were drawn to lower paying

occupations when compared to men. Even though these women make the choice of which

occupation they go into, many people like to give their opinions on which jobs are for women

and which jobs are for men. But this idea of sorting different genders into specific jobs in a way
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can be a form of discrimination. For example, when most people think of nurses they think of

female workers and when it comes to doctors people mainly think of males. When honestly

either gender can become whatever they want and they dont have to listen to the opinions of

others.

When people feel like certain jobs are only for men and other jobs are only for women

this seems like a very sexist claim. However, most people might not be trying to seem sexist, but

just the older people in society have grown up where some jobs were always dominated by men

and most other jobs were always taken by women. For example, even today in the field of

medical doctors there are significantly more men workers than women. In a table done by the

Kaiser Family Foundation in the fall of 2016 there were reported almost double the amount of

men doctors than that of women doctors in the United States. Even though there are still jobs that

certain genders are dominant that doesnt mean that the opposite gender cant do that job. It

could just mean that men and women are drawn to certain jobs that appeal to them and they look

at the other employees that they would feel comfortable around in the workplace.

So on the idea of discrimination it can affect certain jobs, but isnt always the main cause

of the wage gap. The reason why is because not every business is ran the same way or controlled

by the same people. Other factors such as the level of education and work experience can affect

the wage gap, but when people think of there being a difference in pay between male and female

workers. Many just jump to the conclusion of their managers being sexist and dont consider the

other factors that might go into it. However, in an article written by Cailin Stamarski and Leanne

Hing they state that, discrimination in HR-related decision-making by organizational decision

makers can contribute to women being paid less than men are. (Stamarski and Hing). And

throughout this article the main focus is on the human resources department and how that mainly
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its their fault and doing that women are paid less than men. Since that mainly the HR

department controls employee-benefit programs and are the ones who make sure that the

employees are accomplishing what they need to with their work and other organizational goals.

However, in this article Starmarski and Leanne argue that, HR-related decision-making and

enactment can reflect personal discrimination by organizational decision makers. (Stamarski

and Hing). Meaning that everyone isnt perfect and some HR employees may favorite men

workers over the females and this can affect benefits as well as certain wages over lower

departments which HR looks over. Even though its not all the HRs fault for the gender wage

gap; the focus should also be put on the managers and corporate employees who overlook a

whole business. Because their jobs are to make sure everything runs smoothly without any

conflict between co-workers, as well as make sure that no one is being cheated out of money for

pay or benefits such as retirement and insurance. So when it comes to discrimination it really

comes down to whoever is in charge of the business you work for. The owner is going to have

his/her own views on wages and what they feel like someone should be paid. Whether that be

based on the gender, level of education, or even experience, but if someone is basing pay off

gender than women or anyone really should not tolerate that form of discrimination to be taken

out of someone's pay. Especially if a woman does just as much work as the male employee.

In an article written by Jeanne Sahadi from CNN Money she states that, Women

generally earn 79 cents for every dollar men earn. (Shadi). That might not seem like much on a

small scale, but when you talk about salaries per year that can range from a $5,000-$15,000

difference in pay per year. Sahadi goes on to say, thats money that could be very helpful in

paying for rent or food or clothes or repairs or other emergencies. (Shadi) This quote is very

true especially if you think about single women who live on their own and dont have another
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means of income, but just one main job. Another situation in which this would be an issue is with

the example of single mothers who have to support may be one or more children on their own. It

would be difficult to know that you're working so hard to support a family, when a younger male

employee with the same position is getting slightly better pay without really any reason.

The last idea why there might be a wage gap is the idea that women might be more risk-

averse than men. This means that women are less likely to make big and risky decisions in the

business workplace. Whether its a large investment opportunity or being able to have a firm

conversation with a client that maybe wants to pull out of a deal. I believe that in some ways

women are more risk averse because I feel like they are more cautious than men are. Not only in

a business situation, but also in just normal living I think that women think more about what they

are doing or are going to do and weigh out every option and its results. In an article written by

Mara Mather and Nichole Lighthall they state, stress amplifies gender differences in strategies

used during risky decisions, as males take more risk and females take less risk under stress

(Mather and Lighthall). I believe this statement is true because I feel like women are more caring

and affectionate towards others than men are. So I understand how the struggle or inability to

take risks in business could affect different pay for certain jobs that require negotiation or

investment skills. One point made in an article by Doug Sundheim was that, the most successful

risk taking is a collaborative effort between men and women (Sundheim). This really caught my

attention because really this makes a lot of sense in what I feel like is true. In my opinion I feel

that most men are known as being stern, strong, and persistent when settling a business deal or

even arguing between each other about personal issues. While women on the other hand tend to

be more knowledgeable about how the outcome of an argument might be and they are also more
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caring about the needs of the others around them and how a certain deal or investment may affect

them.

In conclusion, I feel that there shouldnt even be this issue of the wage gap between

genders who have the same jobs. Because if overall a male and female employee are both getting

their jobs done then there should be no reason for differentiated pay. However, on the idea of

sexism and how that affects pay; I feel that if a manager or the HR department has people who

judge by race then the business may have more problems than just a wage gap. Overall though I

feel that most big corporations dont discriminate their employees because they have the funds to

pay each employee the same regardless of race, sex, or education level. Where I feel that this

gender wage gap takes place in small business that might not be able to afford to pay all of its

employees the same. On the other hand though it could be happening secretively in big

corporations, but only certain people are allowed to see that information so this wage gap is

really unknown to employees unless they compare pay checks with their co-workers.
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Works Cited

Distribution of Physicians by Gender. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 8 Nov. 2016,

kff.org/other/state-indicator/physicians-by-gender/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=

%7B%22colId%22%3A%22Location%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22asc%22%7D.

Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.

Mather, Mara, and Nichole R Lighthall. Risk and Reward Are Processed Differently in

Decisions Made Under Stress. SAGE Journals, Current Directions in Psychological

Science, 31 Jan. 2012,

journals.sagepub.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721411429452?

journalCode=cdpa&volume=21&year=2012&issue=1. Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.

Sahadi, Jeanne. 6 Things You Need to Know about the Gender Pay Gap on Equal Pay

Day. CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 12 Apr. 2016,

money.cnn.com/2016/04/12/pf/gender-pay-gap-equal-pay-day/. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.

Schieder, Jessica, and Elise Gould. Womens Work and the Gender Pay Gap: How

Discrimination, Societal Norms, and Other Forces Affect Womens Occupational Choices

and Their Pay. Economic Policy Institute, 20 July 2016,

www.epi.org/publication/womens-work-and-the-gender-pay-gap-how-discrimination-

societal-norms-and-other-forces-affect-womens-occupational-choices-and-their-pay/.

Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.

Stamarski, Cailin S., and Leanne S. Son Hing. Gender Inequalities in the Workplace: the Effects

of Organizational Structures, Processes, Practices, and Decision Makers

Sexism. Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 16 Sept. 2015,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4584998/. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.

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Sundheim, Doug. Do Women Take as Many Risks as Men? Harvard Business Review, 7 Aug.

2014, hbr.org/2013/02/do-women-take-as-many-risks-as. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.