Running head: GENDER EQUALITY

Womens Rights and Gender Equality Literature Review and Research Report
Illiana Curiel
University of Texas El Paso

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Abstract

Since the beginning of income paying jobs women have been seen as secretaries,
assistants, seamstress, teachers, flight attendants, and stay at home moms, in other words the
weaker sex. Full time working women earn 77% of what their male counterparts earn This
means that women have to work approximately 60 extra days, or about three months, to earn
what men did by the end of the previous year. It is a disgrace to our country that women and men
are viewed as equal but not treated equally in the work place due to simply gender or race and
age. This review will be focused around answering three main questions regarding the real issue
among Gender roles and Equal Pay.

Gender Equality: A Review of the Literature

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In 1963, most Americans did not yet believe that gender equality was possible or even
desirable. Conventional wisdom held that a woman could not pursue a career and still be a
fulfilled wife or successful mother. Stated in a New York Times article on Gender Equality. Not
until most recent times it has become a big problem upon feminist and women in the working
class. The topic that comes to the table when trying to solve the gender pay gap is the Glass
ceiling. The glass ceiling is what keeps minorities and women from rising to the top with
promotions in the work place. Sadly male dominated companies like to shut out feminist and bad
mouth the glass ceiling analogy to keep promoting white male employees to the top of the
company. To fully understand this, three questions were generated about the influence of Gender
roles:
1. How do Gender Roles affect every day society?
2. What does the future hold for the Gender pay gap?
3. What impact does Gender pay gap have on African American and Hispanic
women?
This literature review will discuss the impact gender roles within different groups of women,
race, and age the statistics and demographics of gender equality, and it will inform readers how
Gender roles have shaped todays society.

How do Gender Roles affect every day society?

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The on going issue of gender inequalities affects all people in every kind of society.
Women and minorities take the hardest of hits when coming down to Equal Pay. Men have an
unfair cultural advantage to the everyday women. Men confuse feminism and gender inequalities
with women wanting power and get scared or feel inferior of women taking their jobs. Women
are not asking for power women are asking to be equally considered as a man would. It has taken
years but for the first time in history the United States of America has a women presidential
candidate. The pressure to adopt certain characteristics based on ones gender is reinforced by
today's culture for young adults, both male and female. Gender roles can affect a persons
identity by forming stereotypes that a womens task or job should really be. This kind of thinking
can put physiological effects on women and alter her state of thinking. It can lower her
confidence and motivation in the work place when time after time a male counter gets the
promotion simply because he is male.

What does the future hold for the Gender pay gap?

According to a new study by the American Association of University Women. A

woman who graduates from the same school and in the same major as her male classmate
and takes a full-time job in the same occupation as he does earns an average 7 percent
less than him one year out of school, Stated in Huffington Post. Politicians dodge the
important question time after time whether or not they will change the law regarding the
gender wage gap or not. What policymakers need to do, Boushey suggests, is back up
their pro-woman rhetoric by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act and develop more ways
"to either push women into higher-paying fields where the men are, or to make sure jobs

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women do hold are valued in the same way." Said Heather Boushey in Huffington post
article. The Gender wage gap can be solved with three simple steps, the first being raising
the minimum wage in America. Increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour
would boost wages for about 15 million women and help close the gender wage gap. The
second being Raise the tipped minimum wage. Recent proposals advocate raising the
tipped minimum wage to 70 percent of the minimum wage to make sure women arent
relying on solely tips to make a moving and feed their children. The third step, Pass a
national paid family and medical leave insurance program. Many other countries around
the world like, Portugal, Greece, and Australia give Maternity leave for about 5 months
paid and American gives a maternity leave of only 12 weeks. Men are unlikely to face
medical or childcare responsibilities and will be able to attain to their job when needed.
Leaving women in a less advantaged case resolving in the Gender wage gap.

What impact does Gender pay gap have on African American and Hispanic women?

The current economy has left women of color in precarious economic circumstances and
they continue to encounter substantial barriers to advancement, the analysis states. AfricanAmerican and Hispanic women are more likely than white men to work in jobs that pay at or
below minimum wage, and they have also experienced slower wage growth than women
overall. Not only does the gender wage gap effect white upper class women who work
professional jobs and badly effects African American women and Hispanics. Closing the wage
gap is, therefore, particularly important for African-American and Hispanic women, who are
already more likely to have lower incomes and to be in poverty than virtually all other groups,

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the analysis states. Although enforcement of the Equal Pay Act and other civil rights laws has
helped narrow the wage gap over time, addressing the significant disparity that remains is critical
for women and their families. Also State in an article from the Grio.com. Another quote coming
from Huffington post said, Women of color are hard hit by a kind of perfect - and perfectly
devastating - storm caused by discrimination, a struggling economy and the countrys failure to

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adopt family friendly workplace policies, said Debra L. Ness.

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Conclusion
By concluding that the Gender Pay Gap will eventually disappear due to statics and
graphs, minority and women should still be consciences of political choices made in elections.
This research report broke down three important questions regarding whether or not gender roles
still exists in our society and how gender equality has evolved over years. Not only can gender
roles affect the job a women works at but it can also affect her physiologically. Women make up
half of the population and to stand up and bring awareness to gender equality can change the
predicament that minority women are facing everyday. Awareness of Gender wage gaps can be
brought to the table not in a feministic way but rather in a serious manner that can alter the lives
of many women and bring Women out of poverty.

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REFERENCES
WIC - Women's History in America. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2015, from
http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm
Understand the Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2015, from
https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/equal-pay#top
Coontz, S. (2013, February 16). Why Gender Equality Stalled. Retrieved December 12, 2015,
from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-gender-equalitystalled.html?_r=0
Why Hasn't The Glass Ceiling Been Broken? (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2015, from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201005/why-hasnt-the-glassceiling-been-broken
Study: Gender wage gap worse for African-American and Hispanic women. (2013, November
15). Retrieved December 12, 2015, from http://thegrio.com/2013/11/15/study-genderwage-gap-worse-for-african-american-and-hispanic-women/
Anderson, J. (n.d.). Wage Gap Hits African-American, Latina Women Hardest, Report Shows
(INFOGRAPHIC). Retrieved December 12, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/wage-gap-african-american-womeninfographic_n_2568838.html
Bassett, L. (n.d.). Closing The Gender Wage Gap Would Create 'Huge' Economic Stimulus,
Economists Say. Retrieved December 12, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/gender-wage-gap-economicstimulus_n_2007588.html