Why Do Women Earn Less Than Men

Name: Jiahui Zhao ID: 201062308 Class: MKIB227

Why do women earn less than men? Examine the gender pay gap in an industry of your choice and evaluate what can be done to close the pay gap

This essay will consider the pay gap between male and female, and it will focus in particular on the reasons why women earn less than men and the actions which can be done to close the pay gap. Also it will examine the gender pay gap in information technology industry and evaluate how to close the pay gap. Firstly, this essay will display three aspects to explain the causes of the income differential between male and female, and they are historical tradition, thinking habit and output value. It will be followed by the example of the gender gap in the information technology industry, which is a typical case study in order to learn the present situation and the reasons of the gender pay gap. The next section will concentrate on the measures that can be done to narrow the pay gap. Additionally, this essay will end with a discussion about the pay gap between women and men.

First of all, women have undergone sexual discrimination in the workplace for many years. So the most important reason for the pay gap is the historical tradition. According to the Economist (2009)“a generation ago, working women performed menial jobs and were routinely subjected to casual sexism- as ‘Mad Man’”. In the old society, every country existed more or less the phenomenon of son preference. It means if a family has both son and daughter, they would let the son to accept the education first. Many people in the old days also seemed that women should stay at home with children and men should in the outside to make money. This concept causes the glass ceiling in the workplace as well, which prevent the gender pay gap from eliminating in a short run. Due to the lack of education and the unequal status of men and women, women generally make money less than men. The European Union (2011)...