Question

Discuss how occupational sex segregation and contribution to childcare and household chores lead to the gender gap in pay.

Must be in 150 words or more please

Answer 1

If we look through traditional economic theory the gender segregation in the workplace are contributed to the difference in physical ability between man and women. Men are physically well built and they can do the work that requires more physical strength. The contemporary economists believe that gender segregation is due to discrimination by the employer, co-worker, and other related factors.

Previously the jobs were marked as male-oriented and female-oriented for example the nursing and the air hostess jobs were supposed to be a female-oriented job. Engineering was more male-dominated because mechanical engineering required more strength and females are less in physical strength.

As Harvard University economist Claudia Goldin points out that stereotyping is one of the reasons where the promotions and higher positions are given to the male member they had stereotype thinking that women are less capable of holding higher position due to lack of skill and it will affect their productivity.

There are other factors like social pressure, and prejudice, and organizational politics to keep male dominance in an organization.

The main job of the woman is considered to look after the family and children. The male role is to earn and look after the family. A person of this mentality sees the difference in the role of male and female and pushes the female out of playing an active role in earning.

On the other hand, the woman folk who cannot adjust to the long and odd working hours opt out of the job. They fear discrimination in male-dominated working place as men show hostile work environments for women and overt type of sexual harassment.

The research is done on the wages earned by the male and female show differences in the pay scale. The highest-paying jobs are predominantly occupied by the male and the woman is found in the lowest-paying jobs.

The organization where the wages are calculated on an hourly basis, women are seen earning less. They put in fewer hours of service due to other household responsibilities of looking after the children and family. Black women are paid less than their white counterparts.

With education and government policy, many women are posted on higher positions and they show skill equal to men and help the organization. Educated women prefer to have a comfortable and higher position for economic stability thus they avoid early marriage. Now many women are occupying the places that were exclusively meant for males. The male nurses are also replacing female nurses; now it is not exclusively for women.

The gender pay gap is reducing and it is often seen in the organizations where the calculation is on an hourly basis.