In 1963 a United States Labor Law was passed. This law was known as the Equal Pay Act and its purpose was to amend the previously enforced, Fair Labor Standards Act. The Equal Pay Act stated that when doing the exact same job in the same workplace, both men and women should be paid equally. The field of nursing seems to disregard this notion, because “Fifty years after the Equal Pay Act, the male-female salary gap has narrowed in many occupations, but it persists in the nursing field” (Muenich). For the past few decades, the gender pay gap in nursing has been prominent. USA Today reported that the largest reported pay gap between male and female nurses is close to $20,000, while the smallest is somewhere around $5,000. The gender pay gap between
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“Practice pattern differences, career choices and educational differences explain most, if not all, of the gender gap in nursing,” said Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, professor in nursing and sociology and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia” (Nurses.com). Part of the issue stems from the fact that the pay gap is relatively narrow in nursing. For example, women financial advisors make 61% less than their male counterparts. The reported pay gap in all of the nursing fields combined is roughly 10%. What is troubling is the fact that many hospitals are public sector hospitals and most nurses are unionized. This begs the question why does this gap exist and what can be done to close the …show more content…
Some studies claim that one of the reasons for the bias in pay is because many women do not know that they can negotiate their salaries. The idea that men are better negotiators is not true, its societal that is causing it. Women need to stand up for themselves and negotiate harder and more effectively. Also, the largest pay gap is in specialty nursing fields like nurse anesthesiology. Men have gravitated towards those roles rather than bedside or chronic care nursing. Typically bedside nursing or chronic care nursing in hospitals has the smallest disparity. Many women are more nurturing than their male counterparts. They choose to go into pediatrics or neonatal care, while men have chosen to work in fields like trauma or anesthesiology. More women must continue to pursue their advanced degrees like MSN so that they can break through into management to help bring about change to pay
“Practice pattern differences, career choices and educational differences explain most, if not all, of the gender gap in nursing,” said Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, professor in nursing and sociology and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia” (Nurses.com). Part of the issue stems from the fact that the pay gap is relatively narrow in nursing. For example, women financial advisors make 61% less than their male counterparts. The reported pay gap in all of the nursing fields combined is roughly 10%. What is troubling is the fact that many hospitals are public sector hospitals and most nurses are unionized. This begs the question why does this gap exist and what can be done to close the …show more content…
Some studies claim that one of the reasons for the bias in pay is because many women do not know that they can negotiate their salaries. The idea that men are better negotiators is not true, its societal that is causing it. Women need to stand up for themselves and negotiate harder and more effectively. Also, the largest pay gap is in specialty nursing fields like nurse anesthesiology. Men have gravitated towards those roles rather than bedside or chronic care nursing. Typically bedside nursing or chronic care nursing in hospitals has the smallest disparity. Many women are more nurturing than their male counterparts. They choose to go into pediatrics or neonatal care, while men have chosen to work in fields like trauma or anesthesiology. More women must continue to pursue their advanced degrees like MSN so that they can break through into management to help bring about change to pay