Research Paper on Gender Pay Gap

The Ceo of Pepsico once said “There is nothing like a concrete life plan to weigh you down. Because if you always have one eye on future some future goal, you stop paying attention to the job at hand, miss opportunities that might arise, and stay fixedly on one path, even when a better, newer course might have opened up”(Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico). There is a rise in the gender pay gap in our society. In many cases women are not getting paid the same as men. Also many females are left out of opportunities for jobs because most men take them. Women have to fight for their equality in the workplace and are still trying to have equal pay in the business world.  The gender pay gap exists between men and women because of lost opportunities for females in the workplace.

Motherhood has a negative effect on women and increases the gender pay gap. “The conventional story is that [mothers] work less and they’re more distractible when on the job”("Women in the Workplace"). This shows that Employers in the workplace would rather have a man take their job opportunity because they are more focused on the job than women. This is an example of a lost opportunity for women in the workplace that will widen the gender pay gap. Employers are willing to hire a man over a woman who is in motherhood causing a negative effect for women. Women that work suffer a wage/salary penalty that works out to be 4-5 percent per child born.("Women in the Workplace")While men are more likely to get hired when having a child and can increase their wage by 6 percent.("Women in the Workplace") This illustrates that motherhood can lead to a decrease of money in their salary when taking care of a child in motherhood. With women earning less money and men gaining more money it is interesting to see that motherhood has a big effect on how much a woman makes. Motherhood can increase the effects of the gender pay gap drastically.  

The loss of opportunities for women in the workplace can increase the pay gap between men and women. “It is logical for couples to decide that the person who earns less, usually a woman, does more of the household chores and child care, Ms. Kerr said. But it's also a reason women earn less in the first place”(Miller). Women already get a disadvantage of making money because they have to spend time doing chores at home instead of working to get money unlike men. Also employers pay women less when having a child because it seems that there will be less committed(Miller). This shows that women lose opportunities because they are so busy doing chores around the house and have less time to devote themselves to working. But the bulk of the pay gap -- 73 percent, they found -- is from women not getting raises and promotions at the rate of men within companies. Seniority and experience seem to pay off much more for men than for women(Miller). The lack of promotions in jobs increases the pay gap because men are more likely to get promoted to a higher paying job. Women are less likely to make more money than men because employers choose to hire and promote men rather than women in the workplace. Women have less opportunities that decrease their salary compared to men in the workplace in our society.

Women not being able to get work opportunities is why the gender pay gap exists between men and women. Women get less opportunities because of motherhood and chores that do not allow them to have time to get those opportunities. Also men have an advantage because they don’t have to worry about taking care of a child all of the time. This allows men to be more focused on getting a job to sustain their family. This is why employers usually pick men over women with a child. If you don’t believe that women should have the same opportunities and pay as men, talk to your mom, grandma, or aunt about their experience in the workplace.

Works Cited

Miller, Claire Cain. "Motherhood Has Role in the Gender Pay Gap." The New York Times, 17 May 2017, p. B1(L). Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A491829916/OVIC?u=nysl_me_bbmhs&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=38e0fb0a. Accessed 21 Mar. 2022.

"Women in the Workplace." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2020. Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999247/OVIC?u=nysl_me_bbmhs&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=3a53c8b2. Accessed 21 Mar. 2022.