In my previous post, I discussed three distinct problems concerning gender equality and the economic growth associated with it. The gender equality problems examined were: the wage gap, the gender disparity in management positions of companies, and the gender disparity in our own United States Senate. Here, I would like to delve into the possible solutions to these problems.
First and foremost, we must address the wage gap between men and women. In present-day America, a woman makes roughly 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. After being elected into office, the first piece of legislation signed by President Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The purpose of this act was to investigate and take action regarding pay discrimination based on gender. Since the signing of the bill, the wage gap has remained relatively stagnant. The bill hasn’t had much of an effect to date. The bill formed an Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force, whose duty is self-explanatory. The force is there to enforce current labor laws and encourage government officials to take more action surrounding the gap. One of the innovative methods it used to make the public aware of the gap was referred to as the Equal Pay App Challenge. This contest challenged the public to create applications available on smartphones that would raise awareness of the unfair nature of wages. 4 apps were selected as grand prize winners, all of which are available for free via the iTunes store. While this contest may have produced awareness for the wage gap, it had no real effect on the numbers associated with it. The wage gap has remained the same over the last few decades and economic growth has been limited as a result. In order to attack the gap, the Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force needs to do a better job. Countless numbers of companies find loopholes in existing legislation and this enables the wage gap to exist. If this task force can be aggressive and persistent in its efforts and even pass new legislation, fairness can be achieved with time. Areas of focus for the task force can be union representation, maternity leave, minimum wage, etc. Two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women. Therefore, raising the minimum wage would thus help close the wage gap. As equality slowly becomes attained, the economy will flourish as a result.
Next, I would like to touch on the gender disparity in management positions of companies along with the gender disparity in the US Senate. In my problems piece, a shocking statistic was brought to my attention. Women make up 53% of entry-level employees, 40% of managers, 35% of directors, 27% of vice presidents, 24% of senior vice presidents, and 19% of executives in the C-suite. A way that a solution can be achieved is to start from the ground up. A recent article from the Harvard Crimson reports that the Harvard Business School is now looking to target women-only colleges in an attempt to address the underrepresentation of women in its student body. With women currently underrepresented in business school, there is no wonder why men occupy the majority of management positions at the next level. If more schools of business were to take this approach, the number of women in management would surely increase as a result. This current gender disparity is not merely a product of employer bias. In MBA education, 1 in 3 American students are women. If universities can focus on recruiting women to their MBA programs, women in management positions will rise. This is the first step we can take as a nation to lessen both of these disparities noted above. If we can do this, economic growth will be guaranteed as a result.
Although these problems cannot be solved over night, persistent efforts will help combat the injustices associated with gender equality.
References:
- http://rooseveltinstitute.org/new-roosevelt/how-fix-gender-wage-gap-going-far-beyond-app
- http://www.dol.gov/equalpay/apps-winners.htm
- http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/4/8/hbs-women-colleges-recruitment/
- http://poetsandquants.com/2013/06/11/the-mba-gender-gap-persists/
I think that the concept of raising minimum wage to close the pay gap is a smart and creative idea. That was well thought-out of you. As far as raising the diversity of student body by balancing the number of men and women, especially in the business school, I think that some problems could arise. For example, women are more numerous than men to begin with so equalizing the number of men and women students may not be needed. A question to look at here is why are women being underrepresented at these levels.