Sociological View of the Gender Wage Gap Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Sociological View of the Gender Wage Gap - Essay Example This fact when established was exasperating to many working women since even though the education and training of a neurosurgeon may be a highly cumbersome process, the significance of a neurosurgeon is not hard to determine. The establishment of this fact has shown that the wage gap between men and women is not based on qualification, but is indeed founded upon prejudice based on sexual discrimination. Overtime, the wage rate difference between men and women has decreased so much so that women are now being recorded to make 80% of what men make as compared to the startling 60% that was recorded in 1970. Over time, laws and clauses have been introduced to tackle this problem and to extract and eliminate the element of sexism influencing pay scales in the work place, yet the issue still prevails (The Council of Economic Advisers, 1998). Some critics and analysts choose to deny the wage gap between the two sexes, yet as more and more women join the work force the gap only appears more clearly every year. Congress took stern note of sexual discrimination influencing wage rates when in 1963, through the Equal Pay Act, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. But this was not the first time discrimination in the work place had been addressed in the corridors of power. Before 1963 came the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, and then later in 1964 The Civil Rights Act also addressed the issue as did the Discrimination in Employment Act later in 1967. These laws were put into place by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and adherence to them is overseen by the same (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2008). Legislation has addressed wage discrimination very specifically. Pay differential factors have been outlined to be merit rather than sex and it has been specified that a difference between the job content and the job title is to be observed. Jobs are not to be judged or remunerated by the title that they entail but by the contents, responsibilities and the nature of those responsibilities that they necessitate. Also, it has been delineated that the skills required for the job are to be considered a factor contributing to the pronouncement of the wage rather than the sum of skills that a person possess. The wages can differ based upon working conditions such as environmental hazards and mental or physical exertion but not under any condition upon the gender of the employee. Influenced by an increase in the wage gap observed by the U.S. Census Bureau, it has been suggested that the wage gap between the sexes can be eliminated by increasing the minimum wage level and enforcing acts such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Acts more assertively. It has also been suggested that women should be entitled to more family friendly work environment policies so as to allow them to bear and balance the burden of the responsibility of their families as well as of the work place (Longley, 2004). Certain multinational organizations have heeded this suggestion and have established programs such as day care centers for the children of the female employees and special paid maternal leaves to allow women to exercise their role in