For over 20 years the gender wage gap and inequalities in the workplace have been a growing problem in American society. Men receive higher pay, different kind of benefits, and are considered for managerial positons. Women are not open to any of these options while at work and in this day and age it is unacceptable. Upon initially deciding on this topic I was not aware of how bad the inequality problem actually was. Through much research I was able to learn that the problem, while continuously growing, does not seem to be getting fixed anytime soon. I feel as though I am credible to write on such a topic because I am a woman who has faced inequality while at work and this issue affects me and many others directly. When I was employed at a retail store I was continuously mistreated by my male coworkers, male superiors, and also male customers. My judgment was always being questioned by the male members of the team and male customers would ask a male sales associate for their opinion before they asked for mine, or often times instead of mine. Although this was happening when I was 17 years' old there is no way to know if these problems in work will be fixed when it is time for my generation to enter the workforce. The aspect that women are inferior to men is still very apparent while at work, even in 2016. The gender wage gap is a major issue that does not seem to be closing anytime soon. Its 2016, companies should now be required to hire a certain amount of women to supervisor positions and any account of sexism or favoritism towards the male workers should be reported and dealt with immediately. Women make up 50% of the entire population and should be treated as equals, not just as extras. 

The gender wage gap has recently gained a lot of attention because of the fact that the US Women's National Soccer Team has accused US Soccer of wage discrimination. On March 30, 2016 five players of the women's national team filed a federal complaint claiming they earn as little as 40 percent of what the men's national team makes. In an online article published by the New York Times written by Andrew Das the numerous problems the women's team face are highlighted. "The numbers speak for themselves," said goalkeeper Hope Solo, one of the players to sign the complaint. "'We are the best in the world, have three World Cup championships, four Olympic championships.' Solo said the men's players 'get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships'" (Das). Solo and the other women of the team have grown to realize that they are being paid less just because of the fact that they are women even though they have performed significantly better. The women's team has broken world records for the amount of viewers tuned in for single game. Das wrote that " ... the players said, they exceeded revenue projections by as much as $16 million in 2015, when their World Cup triumph set television viewership records and a nine-game victory tour in packed stadiums produced record gate receipts and attendance figures" (Das). The women's team is currently the federation's main economic source but yet they only earn half as much, or less, as the male soccer players. According to Das, "Opportunities for women to participate in sports have increased greatly in the more than 40 years since the passage of the gender-equity legislation known as Title IX. But sports officials continue to struggle with matters of compensation" (Das). These men and women are playing the same game, the women often times even having better results, therefore there is no reasoning as to why the males are being paid more than the female players. In an interview conducted by New York Times author Victor Mather spoke with US Men's Soccer goalkeeper Tim Howard about the current financial situation the women's team is facing. Howard responded to the question "The equal pay issue. Is this something that is discussed among men's players? Where do you come down?" by saying, "no matter the gender or the race, someone feels they are underpaid, it is a problem, and I feel they should fight for their rights, no matter what. Other than that, they have their battle to fight, and they should do that" (Mather). Even the male members of the soccer federation are aware of the current wage gap but yet there has not been any proposed solution in terms of helping the women. Both teams are extremely successful and hardworking and their compensation should reflect that, not their gender. The five women's players that signed the complaint claimed that they were speaking on behalf of the entire women's team and hope that in the near future they will be compensated fairly. 

Gender inequalities also gained a lot of attention at the launching of the "HeForShe" campaign in 2014 at the United Nations Headquarters. Actress Emma Watson, United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador, was the keynote speaker and she suggested that everyone, including men, should be feminists. A feminist, by definition, is someone that advocates for women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Watson aims to draw attention to the fact that, contrary to popular belief, feminism is not "man-hating" but is the chance to make women be seen as an equal counterpart to men. She spent a large majority of the speech recounting the privileges she has been granted, all due to the fact that there were people in her life that "didn't assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day" (Watson). She claimed that the people who helped her and didn't make any assumptions about her were "influencers" that "were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those" (Watson). All people should consider themselves to be a feminist and an advocate for women's rights, just because a person was born with the ability to give birth does not in anyway make them inferior to another gender. Feminism is not an attempt at making women better than men, but an attempt to make them equal. It is a movement that needs to be spread more and educating the men of the world on the inequalities that women face is a step towards fixing the problem. In a world that is dominated by men women need a voice to speak up for them and to see that gender inequalities are no longer acceptable. By claiming oneself as a feminist the males of the world are standing against the status quo and being the support and also the voice for women. More men in the world need to label themselves as a "feminist" and help fix the problem, not add to it. 

A large problem on the inequality spectrum is the fact that women are paid 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. These conditions that women are working under are now causing them to have to prepare for retirement in completely different ways than men. "The gender pay gap and the lack of employer sponsored retirement plans makes it harder to save, and means that women are likely to have lower Social Security benefits and smaller benefits from company sponsored retirement plans" (Hopkins). On average, women live longer than men, but also make less than them, so they need to acquire many more resources in order to retire somewhat comfortably. The idea of retiring comfortably is beginning to seem somewhat farfetched because women are usually in the career field for less time due to maternity leave and homemaking. Companies should be willing to do more in order to help their women employees. Expecting mothers should be offered paid maternity leave if they are planning to return to work, and all of the benefits that male workers receive. Women are expected to be the primary caregivers to their families but in-house childcare facilities are scarce among businesses, causing mothers to have to take off from work in order to look after their children. Author Douglas Hilton also feels that companies should do more in order to help women with their children so that they can remain at work. Hilton is the director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia and has demanded that " ... at least half of speakers at conferences organized by the institute are women" (Hilton). This new demand set in place gives women the same opportunity as men and a chance to speak out on the work that they are completing. The institute feels that presenting at meetings and conferences is so "beneficial for the advancement of one's career" (Hilton) that they are now offering for women scientists to have their children accompany them to conferences that are not near their homes and last for numerous days. The institute has made many advancements to make work as accessible for females as it is for males. Women at the institute are now able to both work and care for their children and potentially move up in their career because of the options now available. The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute is helping in women's fight for equality and helping bring them closer to their goal. The advancements that they are making should be offered by all companies so that women can advance in their careers. 

White males are currently the only members of society that are at an advantage in the workplace. In the book Gender and Race Inequalities in the Workplace: The Sources and Consequences of Job Segregation by Donald Tomaskovic-Devey white males are seen as superior to women and all people of color in the workplace. Tomaskovic-Devey writes " ... the best jobs in most workplaces are systematically reserved for white males. In addition, as a job comes to be thought of as 'women's work' or a 'minority position,' it tends to be downgraded in prestige in an organization" (3). This shows that once a job position has been filled with mostly women it becomes less desirable to men and is therefore only offered to women. The disadvantages that women and minorities face are also highlighted when he writes, "White women, black women, and black men tend to earn substantially less than white men. Similarly, white men tend to have profound advantages in their access to most desirable jobs" (3). This shows that white men are supplied with numerous job opportunities solely based on the fact that they are Caucasian and male while people of color and women are given the jobs that are not desirable and do not offer any promotions. Men are glorified and given supervisor positions, no matter their qualifications, because society still considers the white man to be superior against all others. The workforce does not offer equal opportunities between races and genders because all of the high-paying, desired jobs are reserved for white men and white men only. Tomaskovic-Devey uses his book as a platform to discuss the lack of opportunities for women and minorities at work. While the typical white male is given the opportunity to succeed and thrive in a career no one else is, racial and gender inequalities are no longer tolerated and it is important that companies offer career-advancing jobs to all that are qualified, not just to the "superior" gender.

Gender inequalities at work are such a large and increasing problem that they are beginning to cause problems on women's health. According to studies from Sweden and the United Kingdom " ...  [there is] a higher risk of physical and mental illness among women working in occupations with a majority of men, and better health status is reported in those few occupations that are gender-integrated" (Elwer). This is because women who are working with a majority of men are often times only able to see men succeed and advance within their careers, taking an emotional toll on these women. These women are constantly watching others of the opposite gender succeed while they are doing the same amount of work and they receive no amount or recognition, leading to many cases of depression and self-doubt. The small number of women that are working in jobs that have an equal amount of representation of sexes are able to see both genders advance and do well. The fact that men are more likely than women to advance in a career is not only affecting them mentally, but financially. According to economics writer Andrew McGee the gender wage gap exists because of the fact that " ... women are less likely than men to opt into competitive environments ... " (McGee). Women are now less willing to apply for a job in a new career field because they are aware that if a man applies for the same job he will more than likely get it ahead of her. McGee also states that " ... women are less likely to be employed in jobs using the most competitive form of performance pay (commissions and bonuses)" (McGee), this is because if women are working in a commission based job they will be up against men, a fight that they already know that they will lose based on past experiences.

One approach towards combating the unequal pay between genders is having companies publically publish their gender wage gap. By doing this instead of publishing the amount head CEO's make is seen as more helpful to more. " ... calling out top executives for making too much money will at most embarrass a few suits. But calling out companies for paying women too little will help millions - and perhaps crack one of the intractable problems of our time" (Lipman). By publically exposing this unfair pay, companies will bring light to major discrepancies and cause there to be pressure into changing their ways and hopefully filling in the pay gap. The goal is to have companies see the amount of women workers currently employed and which position they hold, and then decide if it is an adequate number more women need to be promoted in place of men. Exposing the gender wage gap within companies will help women financially but in the long run better the entire company. 

Writer Derek Thompson of the Atlantic believes that the gender wage gap is in fact a "myth" that is "famously false." Thompson reviewed different studies and stated that "In one job, [PayScale] had enough data to show a statistically significant wage advantage for female workers. This is 'dental hygienist" (Thompson). While Thompson sheds light onto the fact that women do in fact make more money than men as dental hygienists, or more commonly known as dental assistants, he does not discuss the fact that 81% of dentists in the United States are male and women are just merely serving as their assistants. Women dominate nine out of ten of the lowest paying jobs, while the highest paying jobs are held exclusively men. According to the article, "Comparing men and women job-by-job conceals the fact that men still dominate many of the highest-paying jobs" (Thompson), but why is it that the jobs that create the highest salary are all held by men? Thompson partially answers the question himself by saying, " ... the expectation that women, more than men, bear the responsibility to raise children gently nudges thousands of highly educated women out of full-time work" (Thompson), so women are expected to quit their careers in order to look after the children while the male members of the family can continue to work. Although Thompson wants to argue that the gender wage gap is not in fact real he can not deny the harsh truth that the most desired jobs that create the most revenue are held only by men, which is why the gap continues to linger. 

Over half a century ago former President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, hoping to protect both men and women from sex discrimination in pay rates at work. Although the bill was passed into law it has proved to not be very effective considering the fact that in 2016 women are making 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. Unequal pay is only one of the problems that women face while in the workforce. No benefits, less opportunities, and hardly any chance at all in getting promoted are all things that women are forced to deal with. These problems are unacceptable and everyone should be granted equal opportunities, not discriminated against or treated inferiorly because of their gender. Companies should be required to treat both genders with the same amount of respect, offer those qualified promotions no matter their gender, and most importantly pay their employees based on their performance while at work, not based on their sex. Companies should be working to give equal opportunities and closing the gender pay gap, not adding to the problem. 

