Diversity and Discrimination Affects Pay in the Workplace

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the effects gender, race, age, academic inequality, and sexual discrimination have on wages between men, women, and minorities in the workplace and show these differences exist. An overview will be given regarding changing women's roles and the way the workforce has adapted economically and socially.

Diversity and Discrimination Affects Pay in the Workplace

Gail Collins stated in her book, The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, that things progressively changed, generation after generation. She discussed changes we have seen, from our fathers going to work every morning and mothers staying home; always having a home cooked breakfast on the table for her family, to women entering the workforce, sometimes earning more than her spouse and mainly eating out. Collins speaks about women's progress since the 1960's, giving examples, such as, the development of the birth control pill, rescinding medical and legal schooling admissions quotas, and the disappearance of male and female specific help wanted signs. (Collins, 2009) She indicated, during 1982, it was much the same for families from the late 1950's and 1960's, when the male was raised to manage and work most of their life while, the mother stayed home, took the children to school, and kept up with the housework. Since the economy shifted, it now takes two people to work

Increasingly, women are entering the business world becoming a substantial force within the job market, which sometimes causes conflict with individuals of the opposite sex, especially in cases when women are bosses. Nearly 60% of women age 16 and older were in the labor force during 2003 and The U.S. Department of Labor has projected figures will nearly reach 63% by 2015. Already, 1999 had shown a workforce increase of over 40%, in fact during the last 20 years, the rise of women managers is one of the most important changes that took place in the 20th century. During the 1900's, only 4.4% of mangers were women.

Full time working women earned about 81% of the normal wage as males in 2010, which has been a moderately steady number since 2004. The ratio prior to 2004 had been progressively trending upward because analysis from 1979 shows women were earning 62% of what men were earning. Women, aged 35 to 64, had the highest weekly earnings recorded in 2010. Among males, those aged 45 to 64 had the highest earnings, while young women and men age 16 to 24 had the lowest earnings. (http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2010.pdf.) Out of these age categories, women had earnings ranging from 75-80% of their male counterparts. Differences between younger males and females were less, while differences between male and female employees aged 25-34 years old were that female individuals earned 91% of what male employees earned and they received 95% of what males aged 16-24 were earning.

In 2010, differences between races and income in the workforce revealed that Asian women and men received higher compensation than White, Black, and Hispanic equals. Earnings gaps between women and men were broadest for Asians and Whites with Asian women earning 83% as much as their male equals while White women were earning 81% as much as their male equals in 2010, while by comparison, Hispanic women received earnings that were 91% of those of their male equals. Inflation-adjusted earnings for White women increased by 33% between 1979 and 2010, while earnings increased by 25% for