Equality. This is at the top of the hot topics in America.  One trip to Facebook, or the news and you cannot help but see something about an equality movement.  Feminism, Black Lives Matter, and LGBTQ+ groups frequently fill our social media feeds, showing how inequality is ravishing the world, and how they are going to change it. One place where this seems to matter a lot to people is in equality in the workplace, not only in regards to treatment but also in regards to pay.  It is hard to be an American and not have heard of the wage gap between men and women. It seems like common knowledge that women only make 76 cents to every dollar a man makes. Has anyone ever stopped to question where this number comes from?  Many blame this fact on discrimination against women, this is a prominant part of the Feminist movement. After some research, I found that the wage gap’s cause is not from discrimination, but rather by demographic differences between the jobs that men and women hold.

History of Women’s Equality

Women’s equality movements date back to July 13, 1848. On that day in upstate New York, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, at a tea party with her friends, began a discussion about the situation of women. Stanton poured out her discontent with the limitations on women in the then new democracy of America. This sparked a conversation about women’s equality that forever changed not only America but also the world (History).  However, this was just the beginning because women did not receive the right to vote for another 72 years, until the nineteenth amendment’s ratification on August 18, 1920. The nineteenth amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” (Constitute). This was a turning point for women in America; they too now could be a contributing factor to their own governance by exercising the most basic right of any American. Since that day, there have been numerous conventions and movements pushing to continue and further the equality of women.

The World Wars were important times for woman’s suffrage. During this time in history women began to step up and do jobs that were previously only for men, because the men were away at war and the women were forced to step into the men’s roles.  World War I helped women gain the advantage they needed for the nineteenth amendment’s ratification.  In the spring of 1917, the U.S Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, made military history by opening up the Navy to women. He stated, “Is there any regulation which specifies that a Navy yeoman be a man?” and with that, women began to join the Navy being deemed yeomanettes. By the time 1918 rolled around, over 11,000 women were enlisted in the Navy. Following suit in 1918, with only four months left in the war, the U.S. Marine Corps opened themselves up to female enlistees.  Hundreds in New York City alone applied, and excited women looked happily to the future of serving their country.  Along with these branches of military service enlisting women, army nurses, physicians, and Red Cross volunteers were all an integral part of the American war effort. (Goldin)  These events in WWI were part of what helped women gain equality and the right to vote.  If women were serving in the military just as men were, they too deserved the right to participate in one of the most basic rights of any American male.

Even though by World War II the nineteenth amendment had been in effect for 19 years women still were working to gain even more equality, especially in regards to pay. WWII marked an era of women working factory jobs and taking over men’s work. Prior to WWII only 26% of American women were in the work force. However, with men at war, women had to step up and work to keep the country running.  During the war, 350,000 women joined the armed services making up 2% of the total fighting force. Equally dramatic of a change was the women’s workforce, which grew by 50% between the years of 1940 and 1945. This war also eroded “Marriage bars”. This was the practice of not hiring married women, and firing single women upon marriage. (Gavin) Women enjoyed this newfound sense of purpose and while many expected that the women would step down when the men came home, that was hardly the case. There were plenty of women who did trade their overalls back in for an apron, but by 1950, 28.6% of women in the United States were working.

Women in the Workplace

Everybody has seen the Rosie the Riveter poster with the famous “We Can Do It” quote across the top.  Not only is this a symbol of WWII but it has frequently been used as a women’s equality symbol.  WWII was a turning point in American society because women exponentially began to occupy the workforce.  Prior to this time in American history, advertisements for women’s jobs were separate from those for men because women were considered a separate work force from men.  Once the war rolled around and women had to step up in factories and do men’s work, the differentiation disappeared (Ware).  Even though women became part of the same workforce they still had one problem, they were being paid significantly less than what their male counterparts would have made for the exact same job. When the workforces were separate, women and men received different pay, because even if the work was the same, the woman’s job was seen as different.  When companies had to hire women for men’s jobs, they kept this differentiation and used the opportunity to pay women less for not only the war effort but to save their company money.

As the population of women in the workforce steadily grew so did the discontent of wages.  Women were frustrated that they were being paid less than their male counterparts. In fact, until 1960 women were being paid 59-64 cents for every dollar a man earned (Gavin). To fix this problem congress passed the Equal Pay Act on June 10, 1963 and from that point forward, it became illegal to pay women lower rates for the same job strictly based on their sex (Rowen).  With the Equal Pay Act in force, women should not be making less than men in the same, but yet today America still has a wage gap. If it is common knowledge today that women earn less than men; why does this still occur? Many see the wage gap as an effect of discrimination and while it is undeniable that some still discriminate against women, it is not on a large enough scale to create such a drastic gap.  So the question to answer is what causes the wage gap?

The Governments Role in Equality

Understanding Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is important when it comes to equality in the workplace.  Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.  Title VII was written during the civil rights movement and was meant to be an anti-discriminatory law for African-Americans.  In the midst of its creation, sex was a late addition.  On June 19, 1963, after the civil rights movement of the fifties and early sixties had focused national attention on racial injustice, President John F. Kennedy sent a draft of Title VII to congress. On February 8, 1964, while in debate on the House floor, Representative Howard W. Smith of Virginia, Chairman of the Rules Committee, rose up and offered a one-word amendment to Title VII. He proposed to add “sex” to the bill in order “to prevent discrimination against another minority group, the women.” Congressman Smith was wildly opposed to the civil rights movement and thought that if he suggested the addition of sex, it would cause the bill’s death.  He was not for women’s equality rather he was against African-American equality, and thought that others in congress would not want women to be equal causing rejection of the bill.  However to Representative Smith’s surprise, after hours of debate the amendment passed by a teller vote of 168 to 133. After this Title VII made its way through congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill to law on July 2, 1964 (Title VII).

76 Cents to the Dollar?

Women make 76 cents to the dollar (Farber). This is heard everywhere. Where does this data come from? The above statement can cause serious concern without breaking down why it exists. The problem with the number is that comparing men and women’s pay is like comparing apples and oranges.  In the American workforce men and women tend to dominate different jobs.  For example, men dominate executive office jobs, whereas women tend to be educators or nurses.  In fact, of the top 20 CEO’s in America only eight of them are female.  Therefore, the fact of the matter is that women are in jobs that tend to be of lesser pay.

Looking at the demographic differences between men and women’s jobs begins to help with the understanding of why the wage gap exists. As of 2013, the top three paying jobs in the United States were anesthesiologists, surgeons, and, obstetricians and gynecologists (Smith).  Of these three top jobs, women dominate only one field.  Most obviously, it is the profession of gynecology.  In 2012 70% of gynecologists in the U.S. were female (Lewin), unlike anesthesiology where in 2015 only 36% were women (Luthra), and surgeons where in 2014 only 19% were women (Kirk). Of all the healthcare labor forces only 14.6% of women are executive officers and 12.4% are board directors.  For an example not in the medical field; in the legal field, only 15% of equity partners are female, and in information technology, women only hold 9% of the management positions (Warner). Unlike all these jobs, as of 2014, 80% of elementary to high school teachers in the United States were women (Primary).

As a student of Grove City College, I thought it might be interesteing to take a look at the demographics of men and women in the engineering fields. The demographics of Grove City College turned out to fit right with the national norm.  In the Hopeman School of Science, only 17% of mechanical engineering students and 10% of all electrical engineering students, across all classes, are female (Birmingham), whereas in the education department the majority of the students are female.  Engineering is among the top jobs for highest pay. So why are more women not choosing to be engineers?  College is a time where one can decide to be whatever they set their mind too. Yet more women are choosing to be teachers than engineers.  No one is limiting them to being teachers, and no one is discouraging the women in the engineering department from being engineers. It was simply personal choice.

The Differences between Men and Women

Why is this the case?  A lot of it has to do with the fact that men and women by design have different skill sets.  Many have heard of the “men are waffles and women are spaghetti” metaphor for how men and women’s brains function differently. Men process life in boxes. If you look at a waffle, you see a collection of squares all separated from each other. These boxes make convenient holding places for different thoughts or problems that provides room for one issue and one issue only. Men are naturally more logical; they compartmentalize situations and are able to better focus on one thing at a time.  They value success and their desire to succeed mixed with a competitive nature is a natural driving force within their careers. Men are great problem solvers because they have the capability to focus on one part of a problem at a time. The downside to this is men are not good multi taskers. They have amazing focus when it comes to one thing, but struggle when they have to deal with more than one box at a time problem at a time (Farrel).

In contrast to men’s waffle-like approach, women process life more like a plate of spaghetti.  On a plate of spaghetti, all the noodles touch one another. If someone were to attempt to follow one noodle around a plate, they would intersect many other noodles, and might even seamlessly switch to another noodle. This is a perfect metaphor for how a woman’s brain functions. Everything in a woman’s brain runs together. Women solve problems very differently than men. Women consistently sense the need to talk things through, which is why when a woman is upset she will often call a friend and say, “I just need to rant a minute”. Women can link together the logical, emotional, relational and spiritual aspects of an issue and are more emotionally driven rather than logically driven. This makes women traditionally the more compassionate, and nurturing sex.  The ability to run seamlessly between thoughts is why women are better at multi-tasking. They have the ability to talk on the phone, cook dinner and discipline the children all at once without even thinking twice (Farrel).

Of course these are generalizations. There are men and women alike that have characteristics of the other sex. Men can be nurturing, and women can be logical and good problem solvers. Just look at male elementary school teachers, or nurses, and female engineers and CEOs.  However, the general population tends to follow these trends, which is why men and women dominate different parts of the job market.  Women’s ability to multi task combined with their naturally nurturing tendencies makes them excellent educators. Young children require compassion and nurturing, and when dealing with 20 at a time, the ability to multi task can make the difference between a nice classroom and pure chaos. Men’s ability to have intense focus and their logical problem solving skills make them good in a business setting.  When a problem arises, they are able to solve the problem swiftly and make the best decision for all. These kind of characteristics are what is desirable in a CEO.

It is no secret that a CEO of a multimillion-dollar company is making more than a school teacher.  This is where the wage gap starts.  Take the top paying jobs listed earlier. In a year, on average an anesthesiologist makes $246,320, a surgeon makes $240,440, and obstetricians and gynecologists make $214,750 (Smith).  As said before only one of these three top paying jobs is a female dominated field.  In comparison, an elementary school educators’ average salary is $43,696 (Average).  This creates quite a deficit when looking at the gross pay of men and women as a whole in America.  In most cases, job to job, men and women’s pay is identical when all factors are the same.  For example, the man and woman both must have the same level of education, experience, and seniority.  All of these factors can lead to a pay difference. When there is a population where men have the higher paying jobs, of course there is going to be a wage difference in the entirety of a population.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave is also worth noting when talking about pay equality.  In the United States, companies are not required to provide paid maternity leave for women.  Approximately 300,000 women take maternity leave each year (Frostenson).  Some companies do provide paid maternity leave, but being that it is not required most are not being paid for this time off.  This creates an even larger difference between gross pay of men and women.  If women are not being paid for their time off, they will be making less in a year than their male co-worker.  It is not discrimination; she is simply not at work to be paid.  If 300,000 women are on maternity leave and not being paid, there is going to be a large deficit between men and women’s pay at the end of the year.

Even if a mother has paid maternity leave, her pay in most cases will not be her entire salary.  When a woman takes maternity leave, she is actually costing her employer money.  To get her work done the company will either, hire a high-cost replacement worker, a temporary employee, or pay other employees overtime to get the work done.  There are indirect costs too.  Depending on the woman’s job, there could be poor quality of goods, reduced productivity, poor moral, or even safety issues. (Investopedia).  This is why paid maternity leave is challenging for some companies, because not only is a company losing money from the woman’s absence, they are now paying her on top of it.  This is why men do not receive paternity leave.  Maternity leave is a women’s privilege, due to this simple fact, when an employee is not in the office the company is losing money. If the men of the company left as well this would lead to even greater costs on the employer.

To Conclude…

Discrimination is out there, there are cases of deliberate discrimination against women in the workforce.  However, in America today this is not the norm.  In most cases, job for job, when all factors are identical, women are paid the same as men.  In today’s world men and women dominate different jobs in America’s workforce. How can one say that there is a wage gap in America when men and women nationally do not hold the same positions?  The fact of the matter is that a business executive is making more than a teacher or a nurse. When more men are dominating the higher paying fields, their national average pay is naturally going to be higher than women’s, who tend to dominate lower paying fields.  The craziest part about this reality is how many women are upset about a pay gap.  In today’s society there is nothing holding women back from being engineers, surgeons, or CEO’s, they simply choose a different career path.

All the jobs mentioned all required a college degree, so privilege is not a factor for why men dominate better paying jobs.  It simply comes down to women choose differently than men. Much of this choice has to do with women’s God given abilities.  The nurturing nature and ability to multi task make women better suited for different jobs than men.  Women can be engineers and doctors and surgeons, and most of the time those who do will be highly desired in their field, but these women are not of the norm and deserve praise for their hard work.  Therefore, the next time the wage gap comes up in conversation think and research when picking a side.  Before jumping to conclusions and blaming the patriarchy, remember men and women are different, and comparing a teacher salary to a CEO salary will make it look unfair every time.

 

Sources

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Dr. Stacy Birmingham provided Grove City Statistics.

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Luthra, Shefali. “Pay, But Not Equity, Improves For Female Anesthesiologists.” NPR. NPR, 18 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 May 2017. Kirk, Noreen. “Fostering More Women Surgeons.” UConn Today. N.p., 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

Rowen, Beth. “The Equal Pay Act.” Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

Smith, Jacquelyn. “The 30 Highest-paying Jobs in America.” Business Insider. Business Insider, 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

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