This shows that even though women were qualified and working in higher-level paying jobs, they were not being paid the appropriate amount of money they deserved. No matter what qualifications women have, women are always being paid less. It has been forty years since the Equal Pay Act was put in action; however, women are still finding out that they earn on average only seventy-eight percent of what men male annually in the United States (Perry 2004, p. 24). It is stated by Michele (2008) that for every dollar men earned in 2006, women earned seventy-seven cents. This is happening because the government is not putting effort into fixing the problem. Lack of money should not be an excuse for wage discrimination; instead, wage discrimination should be the focal point because it is so important and is occurring more often. .
Women are discriminated against mainly in the workplace. It is a known fact that men are paid higher than women. According to Kennedy, Nagata, Mushenski, and Johnson (2008) jobs held by white men are often ranked higher in prestige than those held by women or blacks. Furthermore, in a study stated by Employers Estimates of Market Wages: Implications for Wage Discrimination in the U.S. Kim (2000) reports that employers have some judgment in determining wage rates, which can result in gender favoritism. This is because the pay structure takes into account all the factors, which include a multitude of historical, technological, sociological, and political factors. In addition, early on in the United States, there were two different market rate calculations for every job. This meant that employers could pay their female workers the lower female wage rate, even if their jobs were the same as the male workers (Kim 2000, p.98). This shows that discrimination among women in the workplace has been an issue and is still an issue. Something needs to be done to fix this problem. Moreover, male executives earn significantly higher salaries and bonuses than their female counterparts, which indicate that wage discrimination is occurring among women in the upper ranks of American business.
