Salaries by Sex
In America there is a difference between the salaries of men and women. The salary difference between men and women has been a topic of considerable research. The research we found indicates starting salaries are not necessarily different, but there are various factors that attribute to the wage gap between sexes throughout the duration of their men and women’s careers. It depends on what type of career you choose. Careers that are traditionally held by women tend to have lower starting salaries than those that are traditionally held by men. Some believe that women choose jobs or positions that can be more flexible and have less opportunity for advancement in order to spend more time with their families. For instance, women often leave employment to have children and thereby often have less experience then their male counterparts. This can lead to the perception that women will choose their families over their job and that men will not. These intangible factors can play a role in the starting salary a woman may receive versus a man in the same position.
According to US law, there can be no difference between starting salaries by sex for companies with greater than 15 employees for the same job and with the same qualifications. In 1964 the Federal Civil Rights Act was passed including Title VII, which guarantees equal opportunity in employment. Title VII is the legal basis for equal opportunity and sex discrimination cases. The Civil Rights Act creates the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC, to enforce workplace equality. If someone believes that they have been discriminated against in the workplace they can complain to the EEOC who may assist in an investigation. Additionally, women have a right to pursue legal action through the court system. There are a number of companies that have lost legal action against women who allege that they were discriminated against. A number of the court awards for discrimination against women have been greater than $1,000,000 for each woman. One of the differences between Japan and USA is the little flexibility in the law as it is applied to all companies. We do not mean that all women who have been discriminated against have been assisted by the EEOC or by the legal system. There have been a number of very public cases that would make it more unlikely that companies would knowingly discriminate.
Links containing
articles with statistics and information pertaining to the wage gap in the US
For information about starting salaries of men and women in
the food industry go to this link:
http://www.ift.org/publications/docshop/ft_shop/03-02/03_02_pdfs/03-02-salsurvey.pdf
For information about starting salaries female and male
engineers and chemists according to the American Chemical Society go the
following link: http://www.chemistry.org/portal/resources/ACS/ACSContent/careers/pdf/careers_SS02.pdf
Another report called Earnings by Occupation and Education provides data on salaries by gender:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/earnings/earnings.html
For other information on salaries go to the following link and select income
http://www.census.gov/