Gender Inequality
Final Paper (Policy Analysis)
Choose a social problem (I chose gender inequality) and then select a public policy that addresses the social problem (use media sources, peer-reviewed journal articles, governmental or advocacy program publications or websites, etc.). *Be sure to include an introduction and a summary. The policy is analyzed from a macro perspective. Please address the following:
1. What is the social problem? Provide a brief history of the social problem (include statistical data that will help define the problem).
2. Identify a policy that is intended to address the social problem. Summarize the history associated with the policy you have selected. Is the policy federal, state, local or from a non-profit agency? Who is the target population? Describe/summarize the policy (include all terms and concepts associated with the policy).
3. Who are the stakeholders (influencers, organizations, communities)?
4. What were the results of the policy? Did the policy help the target population?
5. Identify 1 unintended consequence of the policy and report the results of the unintended consequence on the target population.
6. Summary: Do you think this policy is helpful? What is one recommendation that you would make to improve the policy? Identify one personal or one professional value that impacts the recommendation that you made and explain why.
Gender inequality refers to women and men are not considered equal in society. Treatment might be based on diversity in cultural norms, genetics, societal norms, and psychology. Some of the differences seem to be socially constructed, whereas others seem to be experimentally constructed. Gender inequality expresses itself throughout cultures, and it also impacts non-binary persons (Blau, 2018). The disparity among males and females is visible all across the globe. Women are constantly harmed and prejudiced against. Additionally, women in prosperous Western societies are still unable to acquire the same level of education, tertiary possibilities, or even income compared to men, despite severe disparities and inequities in underdeveloped countries. To address the issue of gender inequality, the United States government implemented a policy that deals with the issue. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 has brought about immense changes concerning gender inequality.
Despite the advances women have achieved in the workplace, the issue continues. Perhaps the most serious issue is a wage disparity between men and women. Since records began to be kept, females have been paid less money than men. In the early 1800s, full-time female employees in industries and agriculture in the U.S. earned less than thirty-eight percent of what males earned (Meara, 2020). Five years later, they were getting around half of what males in industry jobs were getting. Full-time female workers’ average weekly payments were roughly sixty-five percent of men’s during the start of the 1980s. Since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act, the wage gap between men and women has reduced. Currently, full-time female employees earn eighty-two percent of men’s weekly wages from ages sixteen and older (Blau, 2018). However, it ought to be noted that, despite this change, women roughly earn eight thousand dollars for every ten thousand dollars earned by males. This disparity adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout a lifetime of employment.
The Equal Pay Act is a policy in the U.S that prohibits wage inequality centered on gender. Moreover, the policy was assented by President Kennedy as a supplement to the Fair Labor Standards Act, forbids organizations from awarding women and men distinct salaries or incentives for completing duties that need the equal abilities and requirements. The policy was among the initial policies in the U.S. history to address pay inequality depending on gender (Devlin, 2018). Equal compensation for “similar work” was advocated for in the proposed bill. This phrase had previously caused controversy, and after much debate, it was replaced with the less contentious “equivalent work,” which defined “jobs demanding comparable ability, attention, and accountability, and conducted under identical work environment.” Advocates of the bill could move the bill ahead due to this adjustment.
The Equal Pay Act was challenged by several in the business world. The U.S. Business community and the National Retail Merchants Association were among those who claimed that hiring women was more expensive than hiring men. This was allegedly owing to the higher costs of employing women. Both companies stated that greater rates of turnover and absenteeism among women employees and state legislation demanding specific benefits like rest intervals, longer mealtimes, and separate restrooms were to blame for these expenditures. Furthermore, they said that equal pay was being handled in twenty-one states and that national legislation was unneeded, impossible to implement, and would cause more issues than it solved (Basson,2019). Despite all the challenges, the policy was implemented, and it now allows individuals to file claims for unequal pay. Businesses are banned by law from fighting back against workers who speak out against workplace discrimination. However, when employees are assessed depending on experience, production rates, and quality, the legislation allows for wage differentials. The United States is in charge of administering and enforcing the law.
The policy stakeholders include the United States government since it was mandated with the responsibility of passing the bill and ensuring that gender inequality in the workforce is eliminated. Another stakeholder is the feminist community. Feminists were on the fore front line fighting for equivalent treatment between males and females. Moreover, Equal pay for equivalent work done was a social issue that feminists fought for before implementing the Equal Pay Act (Devlin, 2018). Finally, the United States-based corporations are also shareholders that have highly influenced the effectiveness of the policy since most of the policy features are expected to be fulfilled by these companies.
The Equal Pay Act indeed has helped the target population. Being among the initial policies in the United States to deal with gender inequality or discrimination, most women have benefitted from this policy. When the policy was being signed into law, President Kennedy commended the policy as an essential step forward; however, he acknowledged that much more work needed to be done in order for the country to accomplish total equality of economic opportunity for women. After implementing the policy, the pay gap has narrowed significantly since now women workers can earn ninety-three cents of every dollar a man earns ((Blau, 2018). This is a significant improvement compared to the thirty-eight cents women earned of every dollar a man earned. Over the past fifteen years, women have been able to earn eighty four percent of what men earn. Although the country is not yet there, the policy has brought tremendous changes regarding unequal pay.
The policy brought about rapid changes in occupation. This was among the unintended consequences since the federal and state governments will always be working from outdated job descriptions; therefore, the government will constantly play catch up to impose pay equity along with gender.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 has helped ensure equal pay for equal work despite the gender in the United States. Women have been entering the workforce in greater numbers in recent decades, partially due to economic need (for many females) and partly due to a yearning for self-worth and other pleasure that comes with work. This desire has largely been made possible by the Equal Pay Act. However, the policy has not yet achieved complete equality between men and women; hence I recommend strengthening the equal pay policy and implementing new organizational practices to tackle work-life issues can help to make sure that all employees are appropriately compensated for their efforts. A good example is implementing work-family policies in organizations since women are usually out of the workforce due to caregiving. Hence, they often miss out on job opportunities. One professional value that would impact the recommendation is adaptability. This involves the capability to adapt to diverse circumstances.
References
Basson, D. (2019). Equal pay for equal work and work of equal value: bridging the gender pay gab (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria).
Blau, F. (2018). The sources of the gender pay gap. In Social Stratification (pp. 929-941). Routledge.
Devlin, N. (2018). Faculty Title VII and Equal Pay Act Cases in the Twenty-First Century. JC & UL, 44, 96.
Meara, K., Pastore, F., & Webster, A. (2020). The gender pay gap in the USA: a matching study. Journal of Population Economics, 33(1), 271-305.
