While There is a Valid Wage Gap in America, It is not Based Upon Sexism

Outline:I) IntroductionII) What is the Wage Gap?III) What are the Root Causes of the Wage Gap?IV) Sources I) IntroductionFirstly, I would like to thank my opponent, RC-9282, for giving me the opportunity to debate this topic. For this debate, I will argue for the existence of a wage gap, and for it being sexist and unjustified.I will first provide a definition of a wage gap, and provide the estimated gap according to multiple reliable sources. Then, I will assess the sexist nature behind it.II) What is the Wage Gap?The Wage Gap, by definition, is the average difference between a man's and a woman's average wages [1]. On average, the wage gap ranges around 70-80 cents for a woman to every dollar a male receives for the same occupation [2][3]. The average woman worker loses more than $530,000 over the course of her lifetime because of the gender wage gap. The average college-educated woman loses nearly $800,000 [4] The wage gap has even been recognized by the previous president, Barack Obama, in his State of Union Address [5]. According to the Census Burea, women working full time were paid 80 cents for every dollar men were paid. Another measure found that women's hourly pay and women in part-time jobs earned 83 cents for every dollar a man received [6]. This data cannot be ignored; this clearly demonstrates that the gender wage gap is real, and is persistent in our society.III) What are the Root Causes of the Wage Gap?What are the causes of the wage gap? Are women too undeserving and irresponsible to earn a paycheck equal to a man's salary, or is it blatant sexism? I will be arguing for the latter.From a historical perspective, women in the past were undermined for their capabilities. Women were considered both naturally weaker and unintelligent to men. They were deemed perform work requiring muscular or intellectual development by the majority of society. [7] In most cases, women were reduced to being the bearers of babies and caretakers of children, and to clean up the house and cook the husband dinner. Women were limited in both educational and occupational opportunities. For example, in the 1910s, only 21.5% of females of 16 years or older had occupations [8]. It was only until Title IX of the Education Amendments was established in 1972 that women were given the same educational opportunities as men, and thus had the ability to pursue a formal college education [9]. Women did not attend college in equal numbers to men until as recently as 1980 [10]. This deep-rooted sexism is still present today in our society. Many people today still feel that women are less capable and intellectual than men, thus acting as one of the greatest causes of the wage gap. Additionally, many employers assume or expect that women will not work to their fullest capabilities or will decide to reduce their working hours or give birth to a child with nothing to indicate such aside from the person's gender [11].As I have established previously, the deep-rooted sexism present in our society causes the undervaluing of a woman's work. More frequently, women earn less than men for doing jobs of equal value because people stereotypically think women will do worse, even in areas where women and men are equally well-qualified [12][13].According to this graph, (http://cdn.americanprogress.org...) 41% of the gender wage gap is "unexplained," meaning that there is no obvious measurable reason for a difference in pay. This may suggest that the wage gap is a direct result of blatant gender-based discrimination [14]. This belief is confirmed by the official government website, United States Congress: Joint Economic Committee. According to the Joint Economic Committee, "as much as 40 percent of the pay gap may be attributed to [gender-based] discrimination," and also adds that "Women of color face even larger gender pay gaps. Compared to white, non-Hispanic men, African-American women, on average, are paid only 60 cents on the dollar and Latinas earn only 55 cents on the dollar," [15].From this evidence, I can confidently conclude that there is a wage gap: from deep-rooted sexism in society, the undervaluing of a woman's capabilities and services, to one's ethnicity. Clearly there is a wage gap between both sexes that is subjective, discriminatory and unjustifiable. IV) Sources[1] https://en.wikipedia.org...[2] https://iwpr.org...[3] http://www.epi.org...[4] http://www.epi.org...[5] http://freakonomics.com...[6] http://www.epi.org...[7] http://www.wic.org...[8] http://www.infoplease.com...[9] https://www.nwhm.org...[10] http://www.infoplease.com...[11] http://ec.europa.eu...[12] http://ec.europa.eu...[13] http://bigthink.com...[14] https://www.americanprogress.org...[15] https://www.jec.senate.gov...