Gender †Wage Gap Essay

Within Australias workforce history, at that place has been a strong presence of the sex activity hire spread head between workforce and wo custody. The differences in operates between work force and women still seem to hang on in todays society (Sap 1993). A study by van Wanrooy (2009) suggests that even though there is an increase of women in the aim market, they still select the caring responsibilities, looking to juggle work and family. end-to-end the workforce, there is still a significant barrier present which suggests that the manly breadwinner is still the evident employment model in Australia (van Wanrooy 2009).Women seem to have a citizenry and family first approach to work, while men lam to respect their work life and value money to a greater extent (Pon and Nyhus 2012).Womens struggle within the labour market a good deal results from the lack of manage power within their chosen seam and their skills (Preston and Jefferson 2007). Firstly, this screen wi ll hold forth the relationship between talk terms power and the current issue of the sex rent gap within Australia. This essay will explore the reasons as to wherefore women struggle to bargain with their employers on the issue of engrosss and amusement park working conditions. Secondly, this essay with explore why the difference in genius traits between men and women contribute to the sexuality enlist gap.A owing(p) explanation for the present gender wage gap within the Australian workforce is the lack of bargain power that women currently hold in their workplaces. Within Australia, women generally work in first paid and low skill occupations. This in turn limits their access to means and strong dicker power when it comes to negotiating pay outcomes, positionly in part time jobs (van Wanrooy 2009). As previously stated, women execute to work in low skilled jobs which so disadvantages their bargaining power. Van Wanrooy (2009) states that those plurality with high skill levels within their occupation be seen to have more confidence and motivation towards bargaining for more desirable pay and work conditions. Furthermore, thissuggests that men have a high bargaining power over women.This is due to the fact that 46% of women atomic number 18 more likely to be given work in a cut skilled job comp atomic number 18d to the low 36% of men that argon employed in low skilled jobs (van Wanrooy 2009). This then gives men a greater opportunity to bargain for better wages, while decreasing womens contingency to narrow the gender wage gap through bargaining power. The segmentation of women into low paid jobs and occupations has clearly limited access to bargaining power, and resulted in women relying on minimum wages distributed through the reward constitution (van Wanrooy 2009). In a study by Frino and Whitehouse (2003) , it is also seen that with the over representation of women in the award only sector, this clearly disadvantages women in seeking higher(prenominal) bargaining power and doesnt decrease the persistent gender wage gap. As female workers atomic number 18 more likely to work in industries with 100 employees or less(prenominal), this jeopardises the chance to gain bargaining power to negotiate wages through matings.This is due to the fact that there is a lower chance of unions to be present in smaller businesses (van Wanrooy 2009). This creates an issue for women as they are the ones that need protection and the bargaining power of the unions. While women in low skilled occupations are less likely to be union members, union membership is al roughly doubled when it comes to men in the kindred occupation (van Wanrooy 2009). With women in low qualified jobs, less likely to be union members, this impacts their ability to collaborate with their employers over the issue in the wage gap between genders.Within the labour market, it is demonstrated that because of the difference in record traits between genders, women are often less rewarded then men (Pon and Nyhus 2011). In the labour rmarket, earnings, employment, promotion and productivity can all be influenced by record traits (Linz and Semykina 2010). As employees, personality traits determine the amount of enterprise and productivity brought forward in the workplace, influencing the way they act towards incentives (Pon and Nyhus 2011). According to Pon and Nyhus (2011), women tend to be more cautious and less competitive compared to men. The lack of scrap by women can then lead to women staying in a particular job for longer, accepting the lower salary, non wanting to compete for impertinently(prenominal) high paying jobs. As women are found to be the mostagreeable in the workforce compared to men (Pon and Nyhus 2011), this reflects upon women negatively as they are more willing to agree to first offers by employers, most often resulting agreeing to a low paid job.Personality difference and behaviours between men and women could pote ntially grow to wage differences and could partly explain the gender wage gap (Pon and Nythus 2011). Interesting findings from a study conducted by Hogue, Singleton and Yoder (2007) identified that women are found to hold beliefs about themselves that include having a lower self-importance worth and a depressed entitlement. This is then reflects a lower affectionate status, but when their status is lifted, their wage entitlement also lifts. Whereas men believe that they deserve higher wages even though their abilities and performance may not reflect worthy of a higher wage (Hogue, Singleton and Yoder 2007). On average, women are less emotionally stable compared to their male counterparts, with emotionally stable people predicted to earn more than those that are emotionally unstable (de Jong and Need 2008).This could fetch to explain why women are being paid less and why the gender wage gap is still prevalent in todays society. De Jong and Need (2008) also found within their study that people who class themselves as cordial expect to earn less than those that are more career orientated. On average, women tend to be more sociable then men (de Jong and Need 2008). It is also evident that those who are more able receive higer wages, with men tending to be more intellectual than women (de Jong and Need 2008). These three personality traits that affect a persons earning and wages could be linked to the gender wage gap as women who are emotionally unstable and more sociable would be less career focused and motivated compared to men in their workplace.In summary, there are many explanations for the current gender wage gap in Australia. This essay has revealed two in depth explanations as to why the gender wage gap still persists. From the use a previous research, this essay has identified those two explanations, the lack of bargaining power of women and the influence of personality traits on income, as accurate explanations of why the gender wage gap is still evid ent in society today. Each arguments are reasoned within Australias workforce and suggest that further researchshould be conducted to identify further trends of the gender wage gap, and possibly enforce new rules and regulations to help combat the gender wage gap and promote law between male and female employees.REFERNCESFrino, B & Whitehouse, G 2008, Women, wages and industrial Agreements, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 579-596, viewed 27th April 2012, via InformitHogue, M, Yoder, JD & Singleton, SB 2007, The gender Wage Gap An explanation of mens elevated wage entitlement, Sex Roles, vol. 56, no. 9-10, pp. 573-579, viewed 01st May 2012, SpringerLink, inside 10.1007/s1119-007-9199-zJefferson, T & Preston, A 2007, Trends in Australias Gender-wage ratio, Labour and Industry, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 69-84, viewed 27th April 2012, via ProQuest underlyingLinz, SJ & Semykina, A 2012, Analysing the gender pay gap in transition economies How much does personalit y matter, Human Relations, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 447-469, viewed 30th April 2012, SAGE Premier 2012, inside 10.1177/0018726709339094Need, A & de Jong, U 2008, Personality traits and gender-specific income expectations in Dutch higher education, Social Indicators Research, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 113-128, viewed 30th April 2012, SpringerLink, DOI 10.1007/s11205-007-9104-8Nyhus, EK & Pons, E 2011, Personality and the gender wage gap, Applied Economics, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 105-118, viewed 27th April 2012, Taylor & Francis Online Library, DOI 10.1080/00036846.2010.500272Sap, J 1993, Baragining power and wages A game-theoretic model of gender differences in unions wage bargaining, Labour Economics, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 25-48, viewed 27th April 2012, Science Direct database, DOI 10.1016/0927-537(93)90004-2Van Wanrooy, B 2009, Women at work in Australia Bargaining a Better Position?, Australian Bulletin of Labour, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 611-628, viewed 27th April 2012, via ProQuest Central