The Gender Wage Gap

One significant factor contributing to the wage gap is the disparity in household responsibilities. In most cases, women take on more responsibilities at home, such as caring for children and managing the household in general. According to the Pew Research Center, about half of working women (48%) feel pressure to focus on their home responsibilities, compared to 35% of men. Consequently, women are compelled to deprioritize their careers in favor of their domestic duties.

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Additionally, women often work in lower-paying fields and industries, such as caregiving, education, and administrative roles, while men dominate higher-paying sectors like technology, finance, and engineering. As a student myself, only one out of my eight teachers is male. On top of this, women often face economic penalties such as lowered wages such as lowered wages when they go on pregnant leave to care for their young born, which often reduces opportunities for advancement due to the time taken off.

 

However, there are viable solutions to address these challenges. Flexible work arrangements, exemplified during the pandemic, offer women an opportunity to balance work and family responsibilities. By embracing remote work and flexible scheduling, women can pursue careers that accommodate their caregiving responsibilities without sacrificing professional growth.

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By enabling women to balance work and family responsibilities more effectively, we not only promote fairness but also create broader talent and creativity in our workforce. Now to ask you guys, what other changes could we make to create a more equitable society?

Sources:

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Artificial Intelligence Opens Up The World Of Financial Services, https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2023/02/24/artificial-intelligence-opens-up-the-world-of-financial-services/?sh=46b84563b0ee. Accessed 10 March 2024.

 

Kearns, Jeff. “AI's Reverberations across Finance.” International Monetary Fund, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2023/12/AI-reverberations-across-finance-Kearns. Accessed 10 March 2024.

 

“The stockmarket is now run by computers, algorithms and passive managers.” The Economist, 5 October 2019, https://www.economist.com/briefing/2019/10/05/the-stockmarket-is-now-run-by-computers-algorithms-and-passive-managers. Accessed 10 March 2024.

 

“US highlights AI as risk to financial system for first time.” Al Jazeera, 15 December 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/12/15/us-highlights-ai-as-risk-to-financial-system-for-first-time. Accessed 10 March 2024.

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"Can the AI science of machine learning being applied to matters concerning your money and

investments?" Gulf News.