Bailey Duggan
There is an argument that states that a gender gap does exist but it only exists because of the vocational choice of women. This argument is that statistics show that men make a substantial amount more than women in general, but this is caused because women choose to go into professional fields that provide lower wages. These jobs include but are not limited to: secretarial work, teachers (mainly elementary school), and nurses. Women traditionally fill these jobs and women choose to continue to fill them.
There is a general consensus that a gender gap does exist. The difference in arguments comes into play when we discuss the cause of the gap. The opposing argument still recognizes the gender gap, but that it exists due to discrimination in the job force. Given that women do generally fill job positions such as teachers and nurses and those jobs pay less, you can argue that there is a discriminatory reason behind the gender gap. Because these jobs do not pay as much, women have “less to lose” by leaving the work force.
Even though women have made outstanding gains in earnings in the past few decades, I most definitely believe the gender gap exists. In my opinion the gender gap exists for a few reasons: the major women choose in college, their career of choice, and discrimination (Essentially a combo of the two arguments from above). Right out of college women set themselves up for a decreased pay. Generally women major in education or social sciences, which pays less than the majors of men (typically engineering and computer sciences). Because of this limiting choice in majors, two thirds of US women, in the year of 2000, were grouped into only twenty one of the massive 500 occupation categories. It just so happens that those 21 categories are, on average, paid less than the grouping of the occupations of men. Strong discrimination occurs when businesses undervalue women. All the time, women’s opinions are disregarded in the...