Workplace gender discrimination and gender stereotypes are worsening the gender pay gap
By Sophia Schoonover
Skyhawk View Staff Reporter
Heather Kinnane, a banker at Citizens Bank in Warren, Rhode Island, has worked many jobs including sales, finance, and managing dental and physicians’ offices. Despite working as hard and as well as her male counterparts, she said she has often been paid less than men doing the same or similar jobs.
“If I couldn’t get the respect I deserved, I left and went somewhere I was valued and respected,” she said.
Kinnane’s experience is not uncommon. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, researchers found that for decades, even hundreds of years, women have been paid less than men especially in traditionally male dominated industries such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), finance, or sales.
Kinnane said she has experienced both inequal pay and disrespect in the workplace and continues to speak up for herself and for female coworkers when she notices they are being mistreated.
“I have always stood my ground when needed. I would try to speak to whoever was mistreating me,” said Kinnane.
Research shows that women earned an average of only 82% of what men earned in 2022. This data has barely changed in the past 20 years, with women making only 80% of what men earned in 2002.
The Pew Research Center’s survey of U.S. adults was conducted in October 2022, showing several reasons for the gender wage gap. Women being treated differently by their employers was seen as the top reason, and the belief that women tend to make different choices about balancing work life and family life came in second.
Half of U.S. adults in the survey said women being treated differently by employers is the number one reason for the monetary difference in paychecks for men and women.
Gender based discrimination roots back to a lack of respect for women compared to men and can manifest in many ways, such as women repeatedly being denied of promotions or not given the proper respect in order to become the boss or top manager where they work, the study said.
Pew researchers determined that one of the most common causes for the gender pay gap is society’s stereotyped expectations of parenthood.
Cara Bowman is a sociology professor at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, who has studied, researched, and taught several courses on the sociology of family and marriage, including the effects gender pay gap has on families.
In her research, Bowman found that certain familial structures and the differing expectations of mothers versus fathers have a very serious impact on men’s and women’s jobs and pay scales.
“In almost all cases, a man is likely able to make more money, so women usually have to stay home and are forced to make an economic sacrifice of caring for their children or family while the man/father continues to work,” said Bowman.
Bowman said the concept of a nuclear family pushes the idea that women should be caregivers because they are biologically more nurturing, while men need to be the breadwinners because men are not as emotional or nurturing.
She said this idea is harmful, as it promotes the theory that men and women are incapable of having the same responsibilities.
“It’s so problematic because the choices women are forced to make reinforce this idea that women are naturally more equipped to be caregivers than men and that men are ill-equipped, but this is not at all true,” said Bowman.
Bowman said research shows that women who work and decide to have a baby are often punished when they return to work after having their baby. They often are prevented from getting bonuses or promotions, keeping them back in their careers and salaries.
“Basically, women are punished and are given setbacks after returning to work, simply for having a baby and a job at the same time and having to take time off,” said Bowman.
For men who work and have a baby, there is a very different experience. Bowman said there is an actual ‘fatherhood bonus’ that working fathers often enjoy when their wives give birth to their children.
“Research has shown that being a mother can reduce women’s earnings, while fatherhood can increase men’s earnings,” the Pew study said.
Fathers often receive bonuses or promotions when their wives are caregiving or giving birth, because of the tendency of their bosses to see the role of a father as having to provide for the family, so the employee with the growing family will need more money.
“The fatherhood bonus reinforces the idea of the man being the breadwinner of the family. If a man has a job and a baby he is rewarded, while women are disadvantaged when they are the ones actually having the baby,” said Bowman.
Bowman said there are many men and women who contradict these stereotypes and societal expectations, like men who love to be caregivers or women who don’t want to have children or who aren’t good at caregiving. However, these people are still the minority due to society’s norms and limits, continuing this unequal cycle of men financially supporting their families while women make less and are expected to be more focused on home life.
“I think a lot of the issue is misogyny and sexism and the ways that sexism is ingrained in our institutions,” Bowman said, adding that progress has been slow but better understanding of the dynamics can help motivate change.
Bowman said that since actual people created this system and constructed these inequalities to exist, she is hopeful that people also have the power to reverse this issue and promote more equality for women.
“It’s about shifting the realities of what it’s like in the workplace for men and women and how they’re treated and looked at,” said Bowman.
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