By Sidney DeBoer
As defined by Britanicca, the gender wage gap is the difference between the average wages or salaries of men versus those of women. On average, women working full time, year round are paid 83.7% of what men are paid. Horizontal or occupational segregation happens when women and men work in occupational fields that are dominated by one gender specifically. For example, among higher level professions/careers, architects, accountants, engineers, and doctors tend to mostly be male. However, social workers, nurses, and school teachers tend to be women. Since the 1980s, this segregation has declined, although it still exists. Occupational discrimination can be seen from a multitude of viewpoints in relation to the gender wage gap. Typically, male dominated occupations tend to be higher paying jobs and have greater opportunities for upward mobility in terms of career. The field of law specifically has major economic disparities. At top
U.S. law firms, the average income for male partners last year was $959,000 and $627,000 for female partners, the legal research found. Male partners bring in an average of $2.7 million in client business compared with $1.6 million for women, and men’s hourly billing rates averaged
$736 compared with $650 for women. Globally, the World Economic Forum reported an economic gap of 58 percent between the sexes for 2016. Closing the difference in wages between men and women in the labor force can boost the world's economy by about 7%, or $7 trillion, according to a Moody's Analytics report. At this rate, it may take 132 years for the world to close the economic gender gap. If you are a woman or even if you aren't, this gap affects everyone negatively.
