Arts and Entertainment Editor
In
2012 the average pay gap for women in the United States was 77%. That’s 77 cents to every dollar a man makes
in the United States. Since 2012 the
average pay gap has yet to budge. But
since the 77% is an average, the pay gap can vary depending on what state you
live in. As of 2012, Wyoming had the
worst pay gap with women earning 64% of an average male’s annual pay and
Louisiana is only a little better with women earning 67% of an average male’s
annual pay. The smallest pay gap doesn't even exist in a state, but in a district.
Women in Washington, D.C. earn 90% of an average man’s annual pay, this
is a huge improvement, but is still missing 10% of the earnings they
deserve.
Even
though the average pay gap for the United States has women making 77 cents to
every dollar a man makes, many jobs offer women up to 98 cents to the dollar a
man makes. According to CNN, in 2011 the top paying jobs for women
(regarding the narrowing pay gap) were the following: postal service clerks and
processers (earning 98 cents per dollar a man makes), biological scientists
(earning 98 cents to every dollar a man makes), advertising sales agents
(earning 94 cents to every dollar a man makes), pharmacists (earning 92 cents per
every dollar a man makes), food preparation workers (earning 91 cents to every
dollar a man makes) and directors of
religious activities and education (earning 91 cents to every dollar a man
makes).
The
pay gap is said to grow with age as well. Younger women are making progress with the
gender pay gap, but those nearing retirement are not. Younger women between the ages of 18-25
typically earn about 90% of what men are paid.
The pay gap starts to increase around the age of 35, typically earning
75-80% of what men are paid.
The
reason the average pay gap for women hasn't budged since 2012 is due to two
factors: there are lower rates of pay in both “traditional female jobs” such as
nursing and in “traditional male jobs” such as construction because of the poor
economy. Another factor that contributes
to the 77% pay gap is that women are concentrated in lower paying jobs due to
occupational segregation.
In
order to raise the average pay gap, more companies and businesses need to
eliminate gender discrimination in the workplace. If all companies and businesses issue a no
tolerance statement for discrimination in the workplace there would no longer
be occupational segregation, therefore the pay gap would begin to narrow.
