bridging the gap for womens wages :: essays research papers

Bridging the Gap for Womens Wages     Somehow, the unsexy issue of the paycheckequal pay for the same or equivalent workdropped hit the economic agenda. But it never left the minds of women (41). In her article entitled A New Campaign for Pay Equity, liberal columnist Ellen Goodman outlines the problem concerning the operate gap between men and women. By describing the present part of the pursue gap, Goodman points out that there argon things being done by the government for the wage gap, which include enforcing the laws that are in existence and suggesting that jobs of equal value be paid equal wages. Goodman then states that, even though laws are in betoken and goals have been announced, there is still a considerable slack in the governments progress. She holds that the laws are not being enforced as well as they could be and that society needs to transform the way it views the value of womens work, or still work in general. "Underlying the new campaig n for pay equity," Goodman emphasizes, "are attitudes that are changing faster than wages" (41). Here, she suggests that people are beginning to ponder why womens wages are lower. Goodman explains that in order for the issue to be solved, the changes leave behind have to begin on a state level and move up to the national level as momentum and support are gained. Goodman concludes with an amazing statistic Because of the gender gap, womens families lose $200 billion each year. This statistic helps Goodman enforce the idea that although there are improvements afoot, ". . . half a cent a year just wont cut it.      I can honestly say that the first time or two I read the essay, I found it hard to vocalise an opinion on the topic covered. At first, I thought that maybe Goodman was victimizing women and just complaining. But the more the class delved into the topic, the more I saw that it was genuinely a problem in our society. My mother has worked in the same printing factory for more than twenty years. She started at the age of eighteen, at the lowest position possible and has worked her way up to becoming the second-most powerful person in the plant. Her title is Production Supervisor and she is the only woman supervisor in the company. In fact, there are only a small number of women that are not working as temporary employees in her company.