Women are Paid Less Than Men - A Social Truth Achieves Justice

The working women around us know this truth and to the surprise of many, this fact is not only true with the developing countries, but with the affluent states as well. Even after the US court’s ruling in favor of equal pay irrespective of gender, the question that still lingers on is, why women are paid less than men? Here’s the social truth revelation.

This is 2018. Women have come a long way pushing behind every hindrance and obstacle. They are now appointed in crucial roles in corporate world, serving the country in defence, leading a nation with diplomatic moves… precisely, women of today are enjoying their equal positioning at every place. Question is, are they paid equally as men? In a number of cases, the answer is ‘No’!

April 10, yesterday, was Equal Pay Day in the US and as per a CNBC report for an average American woman it takes about three months longer to earn what an average American man draws in a year.

Due to maternity leaves or child care issues almost every woman stays off duty for months or a year, sometime in her career. Coming back from this long absence a large section of them have been subject to disproportionate wage penalties, compared to men. According to Kim Churches, CEO, American Association of University Women (AAUW) “We’re starting out at a disadvantage, financially,” on the context that women take higher student loans and start their career with less pay than men.

Few are of the view that this gender wage gap could be a consequence of job preferences. While men prefer riskier jobs, women tend to choose jobs which are more convenient to their lifestyle. But in the modern era, this particular reason cannot be held responsible for the wage gap issue, evidently. Wage gap varies as per one’s skin color as well. As per News-Press, Hispanic, brown or black women earn 59 percent of white men’s earnings.

However, Kim Churches says it is the secrecy policies in organizations which is the major reason. “There are still employers that have punitive pay-secrecy policies,” where strict actions can be taken against an employee for discussing his or her salary with colleagues.

The picture is no different in Hollywood. The film industry gender wage gap exposed when the ‘La La Land’ actress Emma Stone became the highest paid leading lady in 2017 (upto June), yet still ranked in the 15th position of the top paid actor list by Forbes. Above her were the names like Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel, Adam Sandler, Jackie Chan, Tom Cruise, and even some Bollywood actors like, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan. The list didn’t include any Indian actress’s name.

In Military, however, the scenario is not the same. Women there enjoy similar designations and remuneration as men, even more than men, at times. So, if the military forces can bridge the wage gap, why can’t the civil workplaces?

Well, we civilians can and we have to. A US appeals court ruled on April 9 that women can’t be paid less than men based on their previous salary. The ruling is considered a major victory for advocates who were fighting to cease the gender pay gap. The court further added that using a woman's previous earning for paying her less compared to a man is illegal and violation of the 1963 law abolishing discrimination in pay.

Can we hope sharing the happiness of the ‘equal pay justice’ in every corner of the world, one day? Let’s say quoting William James, “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power”.