Entry #10 Is there a Gender Pay Gap?

   In a recent discussion with my classmates, we had to come up with a debatable topic. Whether there is a gender pay gap and what we can do to close it if there is one. Our position is negative, meaning the status quo should stay how it is. In my opinion, there are many movements toward closing the gap and with time it will close. I do think there is more we could do as a whole to increase the rate of closing the rate. Upon my research, it would take approximately 257 years if we keep going at the rate we're going. There is no argument that there certainly is a gender pay gap. According to author Kathy Haan, there's more to pay gaps than gender. Ethnicity/ race, location, or lively status.  

    We discussed various reasons why there is a gender pay gap in the first place. A reason that stood out most to me is that many successful careers are male-dominated interest fields. The reason for this is is because women used to stay at home and take care of the family, while the men worked. It was the norm back then, but when women got the right to vote it kept evolving from there. Now within further discussion, the female is affected the majority of the time because they start to build a family or have to go away on leave because of family. I came to the point that there will always be someone who gets paid more than another individual. 

    To end this, it is possible to close this gap. We could achieve this much faster by spreading more awareness of the situation, as only 26% of U.S. companies track differences between pay. I would love to hear what your thoughts are as well.