Blog 1

Wage inequality to put it simple is the inequalities in how much certain people are paid. These inequalities differ based on gender, ethnicity, race, class, and other things. They are inequalities that are not justifiable like it would be to say someone who has a higher degree makes more than others who don’t have that degree. Bernstein gives many eye opening statistics in his article “Women’s Pay: Why the Gap Remains a Chasm”. He does a good job of pointing the fact that women’s average pay is at 77% that of men’s compensation (370), but points out that it is based on studies that look at full time employment. Then he makes us aware that women make up 70% of part time employment and only 44% of full time, so women are making up most of the part time workers in the nation yet those are the women not taken into account when looking at discrepancies in women’s pay to men’s pay. When broken down into different races the drastic drop in earnings women make compared to men of their own race/ethnicity and then compared to white men is astonishing. For example, African American women make 83% of what other African American men make, and only 63% of what white men make. The percentages for Hispanic women are similar when compared to men of their own race/ethnicity, but drop to 53% when compared to white men (Cotter, Hermsen, and Vannerman 2004). Those only represent two minorities, but show how much the wage gap is affecting women, especially minority women.

Race/Ethnicity and gender seem to be key factors that people focus on when discussing the wage gap. There is research that has been done on it, and the fact that it is still a problem is frustrating to people. Class is another issue playing a role in the inequalities that take place in the work force. Still looking at gender and race, the article “Women’s Employment Among Blacks, Whites, and Three Groups of Latinas” (England et al.) analyzes the ways in which women who are privileged may have higher employment and better jobs. Although in the past women of higher classes represented a group that married men who were well off, they are no becoming part of the population of women of higher classes who are using their position of privilege to get the better jobs. The study also tells us that overall minority women represent a greater portion of single mothers than white women. Therefore they are being affected by being part of a lower class, but also struggling to get out of it because higher privileged women are the ones getting the better jobs. So many inequalities continue to exist, but hopefully more will continue to be done to help women progress to better jobs and jobs that have equality among pay, promotions, job security, etc.


-Jessica Vazquez