The Gender Pay Gap- A Sham?

In my sociology class right now we are learning about the “gender pay gap” in the workplace. I know we talked about this in class a bit, and I found some really interesting and thought provoking ideas from class and online that I wanted to share. There are many different arguments on this subject as it goes against equality of genders; a lot of people do not want to say this doesn’t exist because they are afraid of being “sexist.” I have, however, found that there are strong reasons for this gap besides discrimination.

Most women, when looking for a career, have the idea of “starting a family” in their head as well. They want a job that will allow for flexible hours, benefits, and less education time in order to spend more time raising their kids. Men, on the other hand, feel the need to provide for their families and tend to take more high risk, long hours, high paying jobs. Although this is a “stereotypical” way of looking at families, men making the money and women raising the kids, it is still very prevalent in America.

In my family, my dad was definitely always the “bread-winner,” while my mom stayed home to be the nurturer and instructor. I know that in picking a career for my future, I absolutely had my family in mind. It’s not that I want to sacrifice my education and opportunities for a job that is “below” me, I just firmly believe in raising my own kids and not sending them to day care for someone else to do it. I, personally, can say that I would choose a lesser-paying job if it meant better hours and more time with my family.

I think a lot of women put their need to be a “mommy” over the satisfaction of having a large pay check. I am not dissing my sex for this in any way, but think of it as a choice we have consciously made for our futures. I do, however, believe that we do not have the right to complain about a gender pay gap if the reason for this gap is our own doing. (I know that in some studies where a woman and man are both interviewed and the woman is offered less for the same job, there are reasons to be upset, but I am simply talking about the AVERAGE pay gap that feminists freak out about).

I found this article online about the "8 Reasons Why the Gender Gap is a Total Sham".There is a lot of it that I agree with, but also they don’t seem very understanding of why people are getting upset. They are just accusing women who want equal rights of being ignorant complainers.

Although I believe to a rather great extent much of what this article says, there is definitely a part of me that cringes at the thought of a woman being turned down for a position (or being paid less) simply because of her gender. This should never be the case, as equality should be guaranteed now in the 21^st century. When discussing the same jobs and unequal pay, I agree with the feminists who argue for chopping the gap because it truly should not exist. However, when we look at the average pay for American men and women, it gets much iffier and harder for me to judge, as even I am choosing a job that puts my desire for a family over a successful career.