Gender Pay Gaps in the United States and Italy

In my humanities class MDG's, we've learned about Millennium Development Goals 3, 4, and 5. These are promoting gender equality, improving maternal health, and reducing child mortality. Because of MDG 3, I created this essay to talk about the issue of gender pay gaps in different countries around the world. The countries I chose were the United States because I live here and Italy because I have family there and it's a place that is close to my heart. In the essay I compare and contrast the facts about the current status of the pay gap and give some examples on what each country is doing to try to narrow it.

LS. Gender Pay Gap. (2015)

Did you know that in 2014, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 79 percent of what men were paid, a gap of 21 percent? When someone talks of a “gender pay gap”, they are referring to the amount of income each genders gets. Around the world, a pay gap like this between genders is unfortunately very common. However, the size of the gap and what the country is or is not doing varies depending on the specific place you are talking about. As you will soon see, both the US and Italy have gender pay gaps that they are trying to narrow.

There is a gap in pay between genders in the US of about 21 percent. In the US, the government are very aware of the gap in pay between genders. While going about our efforts to reduce the gap, we’ve noticed that “for young women, the wage gap is even smaller – at 93 percent – meaning they caught up to their same-aged male counterparts by roughly the last week in January of this year” (Patten, Ileen). This means that what the US has been doing has been working for the younger population. As far as what the US can do, here is what lleen thinks, “The Paycheck Fairness Act would improve the scope of the Equal Pay Act, which hasn’t been updated since 1963, with stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, enhance federal enforcement efforts, and prohibit retaliation against workers asking about wage practices. Tell the Congress to take action for equal pay.” Also, “Even though women have increased their presence in higher-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as professional and managerial positions, women as a whole continue to work in lower-paying occupations than men do” (Patten, Ileen). What this basically means is that for the most part, genders doing the same job are getting paid almost the same (which is good) and that the biggest reason for the existence of the pay gap is actually just the fact that women are employed in jobs that are known to pay less than men based on the fact that . That being said, this can be a result of gender discrimination. During a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, they found that “...women were more likely to say they had taken career interruptions to care for their family. And research has shown that these types of interruptions can have an impact on long-term earnings” (Patten, Ileen). This is trying to justify the gap in pay between genders by saying that women have more interruptions than men. While this is not always true, the survey does provide an interesting insight on a possible reason why some companies may pay their employees differently. If I had someone having to leave work early often or maybe sometimes not come in at all versus an employee who was always there when they were supposed to, than I would obviously want to pay the more committed worker more than the other.

While a gender pay gap also exists in Italy, they too are aware of its existence and are also trying to narrow it. In 2012, the gender pay gap in Italy was a mere 6.7%. “Despite the gap being relatively small in Italy,  the country has one of Europe’s worst disparities in hiring” (Scammell, Rosie). This explains that while the gender pay gap in Italy is relatively low (approximately 14.3% lower than the US), it still remains to have a problem with jobs hiring different genders. “There has been some change at the top, with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi installing a number of women into key ministerial posts such as defence and health” (Patten, Ileen). This is explaining how some of Italy’s respected authorities have been aware of the gap and intentionally trying to promote the idea of women being in powerful positions. I think this a great way to get people to realize that they shouldn’t base their decision of hiring someone on their gender. “Prominent Italian businesswomen who have beaten the odds including Emma Marcegaglia, president of energy company Eni, and Luisa Todini, president of the Italian postal service” (Patten, Ileen). This also supports the previous point about putting women in powerful positions. It gives examples of businesswomen that are respected and powerful in Italy.

Although both countries have a pay gap, the status of it and how they are being handled  are very different. Some of the similarities of the countries because of the gender pay gap are: both countries actually have a pay gap and both countries are trying to narrow it. Some of the differences between the countries are: state of the gaps (size) and what they’re doing to decrease it. For the similarities, the most obvious being they both have a pay gap. 21% for USA and 6% for Italy. For both of these counties, they are trying to reduce the pay gap to ensure equality among all of their citizens. Most notably, Italy has put women into positions of power to empower women. Also, the most obvious difference is the fact that they have different pay gaps.  21% for USA and 6% for Italy.

In conclusion, Italy and the United States have many differences and similarities on the topic of their gender pay gaps. However, it’s important to note that both the United States and Italy have gender pay gaps that they are trying to narrow. Each of these countries is doing different things to narrow the gap and the effectiveness can be shown with the numbers.

Works Cited

Patten, Ileen. "On Equal Pay Day, Key Facts about the Gender Pay Gap." Pew Research  

Center RSS. Pew Research Center, 14 Apr. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.

Scammell, Rosie . "Italy's Gender Pay Gap Getting Worse." The Local. N.p., 05 Mar. 2015.

Web. 01 Oct. 2015.