Women in the Workplace: Erasing the Gender Gap in Earnings

Are Women Treated Unequal in the Workplace?

As a woman in her mid twenties who has recently graduated college I believe that women are treated unequally in the workplace and the gender gap in earnings is something we as women need to try and erase.

Throughout college I remember reading many articles and it being a hop topic of discussion in class how women make 80 cents on the dollar in the same position that a man would and that we as women should not expect to be treated the same as men in the workplace either. As young forward thinking woman I believed that this was a thing of the past that there was no way this gender gap of earnings was still a reality but it is. I did some research on this topic and was shocked at what is still happening in 2007.

In an article written by Dr. Warren Farrell I found on his website which summarized his 2005 book, Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap -- and What Women Can Do About It he points out why this pay gap still exists and what women can do to stop it. He outlines that it's often the choices that a woman makes in the workplace that will create the gap in earnings. Men are often putting in more hours, taking riskier jobs or more hazardous jobs, willing to change location, and training for technical jobs that involve less people contact. It is often the choices a woman makes such as not traveling, wanting a flexible schedule to take care of children, not putting in the extra hours or wanting a safe reliable job to provide for her family that helps create this gender gap in earnings.