The Gender Pay Gap In The Online & Offline Nexus
This essay focuses on the discrimination and bias against women in the workforce. The current pay gap is 13% less per hour for women than for men (EU, 2021). This is a common average number in Europe, and it entails that even if women work the same amount as men they will still end up earning less. These numbers, however, only apply to jobs outside the online world. Nonetheless, recent extensive research has indicated that there is a gender pay gap between male and female influencers (Leighton, 2020). It is, therefore, important to scrutinize why this is happening in the online nexus.
Assessing The Problems
The EU has not found a staggering difference in the percentage that shows the difference between men's and women's pay, in the years 2020 and 2021 (EU, 2021). Because the gap was in 2021 at 10.8% (EU, 2021). On the internet, there seems to be the same problem, since on average “male influencers earned 7% more than their female counterparts for promotions in posts’” (Leighton, 2020). This indicates that there seems to be some sort of similarities in the discrimination and bias women suffer, online and offline, in the workforce.
Women Working
One way to understand the gender pay gap is by understanding multiple factors that contribute to this problem. Firstly, women are taught to be passive and are therefore less violent (Sjoberg & Gentry, 2007). This relates to the problems of power politics that play out in society, between men and women (Hudson et al, 2020). Thus, discrimination could be seen as a form of power move from the male competitors that feel threatened by women in the workforce, and then lash out violently or in a discriminatory manner, like paying women less for the same job. This happens in the online and offline nexus. The second factor that could add to the problems surrounding the gender pay gap is that “masculinities and femininities are made up of behaviour expectations” (pg.5, Sjoberg & Gentry, 2007).
This relates also to the first point. Since women are expected to feel ashamed when taking care of themselves (Sjoberg & Gentry, 2007). But behaviour expectations relate to, as well, a longer problem that has happened in society. In most power politics, syndromes or, in other words, as described by Hudson (2020). It is further stated by him that it is “incompatible with equality between men and women” (pg. 2, Hudson et al, 2020). This might indicate the inequality of the gender pay gap in the online and offline nexus (Diggit Magazine, 2020). Overall, the two factors are suggesting that women are, but men might not, striving towards decreasing the gender pay gap.
In conclusion, it is possible to expect some sort of solution. For example, if the problems presented here are known, the behaviour of men should be adjusted so that the possibility of discrimination or bias in the workplace would stop. Institutions such as the European Union are working on that, however, these expectations take a lot of work to be fulfilled (EU, 2021). In this case, only time can tell if this problem will eventually stop happening.
Reference
European Commission (2021). The gender pay gap situation in the EU. - European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender...
Hudson, V., Bowen, D. L., & Nielsen, P. L. (2020). The First Political Order: How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide. Columbia University Press. Pg. 21-48. https://tilburguniversity.instructure.com/courses/11980/files/1870494?mo...
Leighton, H. (2020, January 16). Study Finds A Pay Gap Between Male And Female Influencers. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherleighton/2020/01/16/study-finds-a-pa...
Online-offline nexus. (2020, February 13). Diggit Magazine. https://www.diggitmagazine.com/wiki/online-offline-nexus
Sjoberg, L., & Gentry, C. E. (2007). Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence in Global Politics (First). Zed Books. Pg. 1-27. https://tilburguniversity.instructure.com/courses/11980/files/1866023?mo...