The Gender Wage Gap in The USA

In today’s world, there are still many ways in which women are treated unfairly.  One example is the wage gap. In the United States, the wage gap is a 20% difference. On average women get 79 cents to a man’s dollar, for the exact same work.

It is surprising to many that this wage gap still exists and that it is so large. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 when women were only paid 58 cents to a man’s dollar, but even with this law in place the past 54 years’ the difference in pay has only been reduced to 21 cents.  It will take another half a century to eliminate the wage gap at this rate. The only way to close the gap sooner is if the government enforces and encourages the Equal Pay Act of 1963, or passes a new more effective law for equal pay.

Different regions in the US experience different levels in the gender wage gap. The lowest wage gap in the country is in New York state where women receive 89% of what men earn, while the largest wage gap is in Wyoming where women are payed 64% of what men earn.  Here in Virginia women get 78%.  Also, women of color get paid even less than white women compared to male counterparts, although the wage gap between men and women within minority groups is smaller than the gap between white women and white men.

Age in the work force is also a factor which affects the gender wage gap.  Among workers 24-34 years old, the wage gap is only 10% while among workers 55-64 the gap is 26%.  One might think that if women become more educated that their pay would become more equal to men’s, but this is not the case.  Women with high education compared to men with high education have a larger pay gap than less educated women compared to less educated men.

Women continue to fight for what they deserve in the work place and in many other areas. It doesn’t make since that there is such a large wage gap between men and women when women are just as capable as men in all aspects of life.  Many hope that this unequal treatment will soon change and that women will take a big step towards equality by ending the difference in pay between men and women.