Data in new study underscore gender-based wage disparities

Are women in workplaces in California and across the country achieving greater parity with their male colleagues when it comes to the dollars deposited into their accounts each pay period?

Assuredly, they are, especially when compared to decades ago.

Does that fortunate change in circumstances now render gender-based wage discrimination a relic of that past, that is, a discriminatory reality that no longer exists?

Hardly.

A recent New York Times article notes that, “While the pay gap has been closing, it remains wide.”

That makes any discussion of men-versus-women pay matters a kind of glass-half-full and glass-half-empty exercise.

On the one hand, there is no question that some of the more patent wrongs inherent in the pay universe have been addressed and ameliorated in recent years.

On the other hand, though, and as the Times points out, “Women’s median annual earnings stubbornly remain about 20 percent below men’s.”

So, candidly, what’s the deal? What is holding up the extra dose of progress that is so clearly needed in this important work-related area?

New research findings from what has been termed “one of the most comprehensive studies of the phenomenon” offers up this conclusion for why men are so often paid more than women at the workplace, even for similar work: A good many hiring managers, company principals, human resource heads and other parties simply don’t value work as highly when it is done by women. And in fields that females increasingly enter, wages drop compared to what males are receiving.

Clearly there is important work yet to be done to foster gender equality relating to pay matters.

And, in the interim, company principals might need to be reminded that pay inequality based on gender alone is illegal and can result in a discrimination lawsuit and money damages paid to an injured plaintiff.

A proven business law attorney well experienced in representing both workers and companies in employment disputes can answer questions and provide diligent representation in any work-related legal matter.