Sociology (Women Roles/Struggles)
Discrimination Against Women in the Workplace Since the beginning of time, women were regarded as inferior and treated unfairly. Their rightful place was considered their home and their occupation consisted of being a housewife, taking care of the children, and keeping their husbands content. They were not accepted by society when they tried to gain entry into the workforce until the United States entered World War II (Foner 339). The only reason women were finally accepted into the workforce was because all the men were off fighting the war and someone was needed to occupy the vacant spaces that were left by the men's departure. After the end of the war as the men started to come home, the women had to return to their jobs as housewives, but they eventually returned to the workforce to work alongside men. In the beginning, this return was difficult because they faced open discrimination. Discrimination is the process in which different people receive unequal benefits because of their different statuses despite identical qualification and merit (Cohn 3). Even though our society has come a long way since the beginning of discrimination against women, they are still devalued and face discrimination as evidenced by the wag
A fourth reason for wage discrimination is within wage discrimination, in which women receive lower wages than men within a given occupation and within a given establishment (Peterson & Morgan 330). Thus, even if women hold executive positions their earnings do not match that of the men's. Due to valuative discrimination, women receive lower wages than men, even though skill requirements and other wage-relevant factors are the same for both the sexes. In conclusion, even though women have come a long way since the beginning of open discrimination against them in the workplace, they still face subtle discrimination. In other words, women are overrepresented in the labor market positions that generally offer lower rewards and less chance for advancement. Labor market discrimination is when "two equally qualified individuals are treated differently solely on the basis of their sex" (Marini 358). Even though individual and job characteristics do not account for all of the wage discrimination, there are several reasons why it still exists. A research by Bibb and Form found that industries with the lowest earnings are those that employ the most women and industries that employ the fewest women pay the highest wages (Miller & Garrison 247). This difference in earning, regardless of women's educational attainment, can be observed through research data that shows that without adjusting for occupational status, female dominated occupations have a task characteristic-based earning potential that is $1,550 less than male occupations. In fact, the gender gap in earnings narrowed only slightly during the last decade despite the sharp rise in women's labor force involvement and their increased representation in high-status occupations (Tienda, Smith, & Ortiz 196). In order to stop the discriminatory practice, we must enact legislature to better protect women's rights as it relates to equal access to wages and position that men currently hold in companies. This is not a major decrease in the difference between male and female earnings considering all the gains they have made since the time they entered the workplace. A second reason for wage discrimination is allocative discrimination, in which women are differentially allocated to occupations and establishments that pay lower wages (Peterson & Morgan 329).
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Acceptance Essays
