Gender Role in Pay Disparities

Gender Role in Pay Disparities – A Multifaceted Analysis
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Professor
April 27, 2023
Gender pay disparity is a widespread global issue limiting women's economic advancement within a conventional sociocultural setting. Women confront various workplace difficulties tied to their demographic identity, consequently influencing their career growth, promotions, and progress across diverse sectors. This essay delves into the gender pay gap, its driving factors, its consequences on society and the economy, and a comparison among different sectors in relation to this matter, utilizing the discoveries from several studies. Accordingly, the subsequent sections of this article will then analyze this persistent issue within the realm of healthcare, followed by several policy recommendations that could help address this issue.
In line with this, I will structure the paper as follows. First, it will discuss the root causes of the gender pay gap, examining various factors such as sociocultural values, human capital, agency segregation, position segregation, and the glass ceiling. Second, the essay will explore the implications of the gender pay disparity on society, touching on aspects like career development, access to opportunities, and overall gender equality. Finally, the paper will analyze the economic impact of the gender pay gap, highlighting the potential losses and inefficiencies due to wage disparities.
Furthermore, this essay will provide a comparative analysis of the gender pay gap across different sectors, including public, private, and non-profit organizations, identifying the variations in pay equity and the effectiveness of measures taken to address the issue. Lastly, the author believes that improving gender equality in pay requires significant changes in state policy. Thus, the author would like to provide recommendations for policy changes and potential strategies to mitigate the gender pay gap, emphasizing the need for legal, sociocultural, and organizational reforms to promote equal opportunities and economic growth for women.
Root Causes of Gender Pay Disparity
Throughout the years, studies have shown a highly complex and multifaceted reason causing gender pay disparities between men and women. For instance, Alkadry and Tower (2006) probe the fundamental causes of gender-based pay inequality by examining four gender theories—the glass ceiling, position segregation, agency segregation, and human capital. The glass ceiling represents the unseen obstacles that impede women from climbing the corporate ladder and attaining higher-ranking positions. Although recent socio-political changes would seem to support the idea that gender disparity is less in recent times, studies done by Smith-Doerr et al. (2019) show that the application of these four gender theories is still present in between various sectors of the workforce and even within departments in a similar workplace. This highlights the idea of position segregation, which denotes the unequal distribution of men and women across various roles. In contrast, agency segregation alludes to the gender imbalance in distinct organizations or sectors. Overall, the human capital theory posits that disparities in education, ex...