Ana Perez
Profesor. McIntosh
ENGL 210
November 18, 2021
Critical Analysis
Introduction
“Women belong in the kitchen”, was a tweet made by Burger King in the UK that caused a lot of controversy and is a statement that women must continuously hear. Women are seen as the caregivers of children and not assets to the economy or any company. This is a view that has been prominent in every society, generation, and community in the world. However, women are proven to be an essential resource to the economy and any organization. As a result of these beliefs, we get the wage gap. This is an issue we women continue to face, and it is concerning that it continues to be prominent.
The gender wage gap is the measure of what women get paid relative to men, they divide the wages of men and women and get a percentage of how much women get paid compared to men. Factors like education, gender and race, and occupational segregation worsen the wage gap. It has different layers to it and not only that, but certain women are also more affected than others. Mothers, women of color, and women with low degrees, like a bachelor, are most likely to be paid less and work in a low-wage job. Things like retirement often face income gaps because since women get paid less there is less in retirement money at the end.
The organization this article came from is called the American Association of University Women and it is led by women of all backgrounds, they help women with their education and provides opportunities to grow in their careers. The article has a lot of graphs and pictures of women which emphasize the purpose and audience of the article. The article, Fast Facts: The Gender Pay Gap informs, evaluates, convinces, and bring awareness to the gender wage gap. The author clearly wants to inform us readers about the issue, as a result, she begins by explaining the wage gap and who are being affected. The author uses statistics by stating, “The pay gap tends to be larger for women of color and in some cases the gap appears to be widening… Latinas make 55 cents on the dollar…Black women make 63 cents on the dollar and Asian women make 87 cents on the dollar” (AAUW). Statistics work as a visual for readers to see the issue discussed. The first thing we see when we read any article is numbers or any visuals, like images and graphs, because it stands out.
The author added statistics at the beginning of the article, she also added bar graphs in different colors to add to the visual and catch the reader’s attention. She uses bold headings to emphasize important information and ideas. This being said, the audience the author has chosen is evident. This article targets women of all backgrounds and age groups who are suffering from the wage gap to educate them and offer opportunities for grow. She emphasizes women of color because she believes “m), as a result this is her audience.
The gender pay gap is one of the most reoccurring economic issues that we have seen to forget. Education is something that impacts the paycheck of any individual in the workforce, and it is one of the most prominent causes of the gender wage gap. Commonly, someone who has no degree, or any educational background has a lower chance of getting a good paying job, however, for women it is worse. “In contrast, the gender pay gap effect refers to the fact that women are usually paid less than men even if they have the same job position, same educational background, and same professional experience …” (Nassar 2021). Women who are in the same level of a men academically, and professionally still manage to get paid less, this is concerning because there are women who are going to school and getting a degree in hopes of getting a better pay and this issue, the gender pay gap, may jeopardize those earnings.
Education is not the only factor that impacts the wage gap, occupational segregation is another problem. As we know the gender pay gap has been a reoccurring issue that women seem to be the victims of. According to a survey done by the Pew Research Center, “In 2020, women earned 84% of what men earned…Based on this estimate, it would take an extra 42 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2020”. These statistics are concerning because it is a fact, and it is evident that we are getting underpaid. What is most concerning is that our society has not being working towards fixing this issue, and men seem to continue to get a bigger paycheck while we continue to get underpaid, men continue to receive better job positions while us women continue to stay behind and do what men wouldn’t do.
Fortunately, the wage gap has been narrowing over the decades and women’s paychecks were improving but not enough. “The gender pay gap in the United States (US) has narrowed over the last several decades, with the female/male earnings ratio in the US increased from about 60% before the 1980s to about 79% by 2014” (Chen 2021). Due to the constant work done by women and organizations created to decrease this issue, there has been an improvement and the gap has narrowed just enough to see a difference but not enough to stop the fight. Organizations like the American Association of University Women, or AAUW, create opportunities for women to better their education and make better profits, which is why I chose this article by the AAUW, Fast Facts: The Gender Pay Gap. The write of this article helps us see the issue through statistics, which is what we need to see the problem.
There are many professions and organizations that suffer greatly of the wage gap, “While the gender pay gap has narrowed within the last two decades, the pay gap between female and male employees in the federal governmental public health workforce persists and warrants continuing attention and research. Continued efforts should be implemented to reduce the gender pay gap among the health workforce” (Chen 2021). The women in the public health workforce experience the wage gap severely because I believe it is predominantly women, for examples, nurses. “For instance, male nurses earned 27.9% more than female nurses in 2013 in the US although the gap reduced to about 9.8% once work hours were controlled” (Chen 2021). Nursing schools are predominantly women and we get a new nurse every month. Even if this is the case,
The author’s claim is convincing because she uses statistics to prove her point. Like stated before, statistics add a level of credibility to any writing because numbers make everything clear. The author believes that Latina and Black women are most likely to work in low wage jobs due to the disparity of the wage gap. People of color are always targeted and are the ones who suffer with discrimination and many disparities. The wage gap exists in every profession, according to the author “Fields with the smallest pay gaps are food workers, writers, counselors, pharmacists and social workers, where women earn within 97–99% of what their male colleagues do” (AAUW), however, women are the most prominent in these professions and we can see the pattern and correlation.
For the economy to improve and go back to being strong and stable, women “…women [need] to become economically empowered meaning to have equal access to jobs as men, being equally paid, and having the same opportunities and chances to be promoted to higher positions” (Nassar 2021). Women are half of the population, that being said, if we were to be added to them to the workforce, the amount of money and resources that could be produced would be double the amount, which would bring any company more success and growth. In general, we know that women are the caregivers of children, and this is what they are believed to do. That being said, Chirine Nassar states, “In addition, improving women’s participation in economic activities has been shown to have positive effects on society as a whole since it drives the development of human capital and improves the education and health of children, as families have access to a dual-income” (Nassar 2021). The benefits of women working is not only in the economy, but also in the society, it improves education, the economy, and the people’s lives.
In conclusion, the author’s thesis was very convincing and informing, the flow of the article is easy to read and full of statistics. This organizations has been working for 140 years promoting equal rights and pay for women. They help women academically, socially, and career-wise. This organization has a logo, and we can see this all throughout the article I’m writing about and the other ones they provide. The author’s wording gives off the idea that at one point the author wants to take an emotional approach, by using the heading, “Mothers face an even wider pay gap than women without kids” (AAUW). When people include mothers to an article, it gives an emotion approach because mothers are always cared for and important.
Works Cited
Barroso, A., & Brown, A. (2021, May 25). Gender pay gap in U.S. held steady in 2020. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/25/gender-pay-gap-facts.
Chen, Zhuo, et al. “Narrowing but persisting gender pay gap among employees of the US Department of Health and Human Services during 2010-2018.” Human Resources for Health, vol. 19, no. 1, 13 May 2021, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A665430239/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=89b03819. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021
Fast facts: The gender pay gap. AAUW. (2021, September 20). Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/fast-facts-pay-gap.
Nassar, Chirine. “Women’s contribution to economic development and the effects of the gender pay gap.” Management Research and Practice, Vol. 13, no. 2, June 2021. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A665130230/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=46faf1e0. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.
Barroso, A., & Brown, A. (2021, May 25). Gender pay gap in U.S. held steady in 2020. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/25/gender-pay-gap-facts/.
