Gender pay gap

In class, we have been presenting our speeches in front of the class. I found getting the ideas for each paragraph difficult. My favorite part was putting my speech together and finishing it. 

My speech

Across the world, women and men work the same jobs, perform the same tasks - yet they are not paid the same wage. Men have dominated high paid jobs for a long time, but for no other reason than because they are men. Does this seem fair and should the gender pay gap still exist in a modern time when women and men should be treated the same? A change needs to happen, and fast.

In the past, a big share of the gender pay gap was due to a cause such as differences in education, the activity, and businesses that men and women work in, or the fact that women are more likely to work part-time. We now know these causes only explain around 20 percent of the ongoing gender pay gap. The majority of the gender pay gap is now led by what the research calls “unexplained” causes. These are the harder to measure factors- impacting negatively on women’s recruitment and payment growth - and differences in men’s and women’s choices and behaviors.

There are still deeply held social attitudes and beliefs about the types of work that are appropriate for men and women dominate and the share of unpaid work, like caring for children and housework. These attitudes affect not only the choices men and women make around paid and unpaid work but also the behaviors of others toward men and women who make choices that are not logical with these traditional beliefs. Differences in behaviors and choices can include men and women’s willingness to access payment and conditions and whether employers may treat women differently from men.   

Women and men have different patterns of participation in the paid workforce because women spend a greater proportion of their time on unpaid and caring work than men. When women take career breaks or work part-time it can affect their careers. Fewer higher-level positions are available on a part-time basis. When women work part-time, they are more likely to miss out on more challenging work and professional development opportunities - both of which increase a person's chance of advancement. When women sacrifice their time to take care of loved ones it is hard for them to get back on track and they have to then work part-time. Do you think that it is fair that they don’t get paid the same amount for the sacrifice they have made?

The gender pay gap is getting smaller but not equally fair. Not all men go out and work while the women stay home and take care of the kids. Although in the past there have been great differences in men’s and women’s choices about paid and unpaid work, and the attitudes and beliefs of paying people equally - it should not be the case now or in the future. If women and men do exactly the same job, they should be paid exactly the same.

By Riley Tepania