Why is the gender wage gap widening again?

Fikre Debela
Oct. 31st 2008


The gender pay gap is widening all over the world, but particularly in the country of New Zealand. In the typical family women are suppose to be the "care-givers” of the family and the men are the one who bring in the money. However, in today's society that’s not how it is anymore. More women are working either because they are a single parent or the family can’t afford just having the men work. In this case woman often have two jobs: take care of the family, and work an outside job. But is it fair that women who have the responsibility to take care of family have to deal with inequality in the workplace. Well, in New Zealand its becoming a problem because women just as qualified or more are suffering from the inequality they have to face in their jobs.

On average men earned $977 where by the same full time employed women earned $659 in the year 2008. Why? Inequality is a major factor. When women are employed they are often paid lower if they have children. However, it becomes harder for a women to raise their standards in the workforce when society has assumed them as the major care-takers for the proper raising of their children. This becomes even harder for women who are single parents. Sometimes they don’t have much of a choice but to take the pay cut they receive. In the New Zealand it has shown that a larger number of women are often having to take part time jobs as well.

Women are faced with this issue all around the world. With the need for more income women are faced with even more inequality. I don’t think discrimination is fair for women when society places their second job to be the “care-givers” in the family. Its only fair to decrease a pay if the women is not working the same amount of hours but just because a women may have more resopsibilties than man to deal with does not make inequality right.

http://www.businessday.co.nz/blogs/nicksmith/2008/10/30/why-is-the-gender-wage-gap-widening-again/