The Effects on Adolescents from the Income Gender Gap by Emilie Howe

There has always been the discussion and uproar of women making less money than men; while doing the same job. Throughout America’s history, this has always been a dilemma pending on Women’s Rights. Although there have been huge strides in the right direction for Women’s Rights in the workforce, there are still women who have jobs where they cannot get promotions. Not only do women make less money than men, but the women’s age group will play a big effect in their salary as well. Also, the ethnicity of the women will change their percentage of the ratio to what men make. For example, a white female will make about an 81.7% ration to men who are at 100% salary. Obviously, depending on the occupation and position the woman is at in her career, that will affect her salary as well. Some of the excuses that bosses have to say about women getting promotions are, “That either they may not be able to emotionally handle it or if they become mothers, they will not be able to put in full time at the job.” Although this may have some truth to it, that mothers will not be able to always have the opportunity to be a full time worker, but what does that mean for the adolescence of the mothers? Adolescence are affected because of single mothers not able to financially support them, their mothers are not able to spend time with them because they are too busy working to make up for the money that is lacking, and adolescence may not get the best educational opportunities.

Something that is a lot more common and accepted today is: single mother homes. Single mothers are working overtime just to be able to make due for their families. This affects not only the mothers who have to work hard, but also the adolescence. Being that single mothers in the workforce make less money than males, they may not always be able to financially support their children. Adolescence needs are not always met, because the mothers are not able to financially support their main needs. Also, women’s wages to the men’s wages go down more, as they get older. Under those circumstances, the single mothers who are trying to support their children on their income alone, it will only progress to get harder to meet their needs.

Throughout the whole life of an adolescence that lives in a single mother home, they will not always have the luxuries that they might want or that their peers have. This also makes it harder for the adolescence to be able to fit in with their peers, because they cannot keep up with the trends that are popular. In my opinion, if women were paid equally than men, finances although may still be a struggle, every little bit more income can help improve the family and especially the adolescence needs. Above all, adolescence lack many needs when having a single mother who is trying to work to better her child’s life because women’s pay is less than what men would make; even though they are doing the same job.

Consequently, single mothers who are busy at, work trying to financially make their children’s lives better, adolescence suffer from not getting enough time with their mothers. Women, who are constantly working because they are the breadwinners for the family, have limited time with giving their adolescence attention. During this time, it is ideal that the adolescence has guidance to put them on the right-positive paths. Single mothers may have not only lesser pay than men, but also their work times that start them really early in the morning and are not able to get home until later at night. Which does not give anytime for the mother to keep track of what the adolescence is doing in their spare time from school.

 In some cases, adolescence may tend to act out or misbehave, because they do not have a constant guidance from their mothers; who are always working. Also, adolescence who lack parental supervision, because their mothers are working overtime, t may sway towards gangs or other bad examples that will lead them down the wrong paths and can significantly impact their future outcome. I believe that if women were allowed to be paid at equal salaries than men, and not have to work so many extra hours to make up for the lesser money, it would allow the single mothers to connect to their adolescence down a positive path that will benefit them for their future. When adolescence strays from the path to living a positive life, some of the things that will suffer is their education.

As we all know, education is huge part for adolescence in today’s life. When working single mothers are busy enough with their career and being able to financially support their adolescence, the important things begin get a little fuzzy. What I mean by this is, because finances are a huge stress, the adolescences education may not be top priority. Working overtime just to make ends meet, single mothers may not always remember or even be able to make sure their adolescence make it to school on time or even at all. With that being said, if the adolescence not always attending school, they may not always finish their homework because they miss out on learning the material. Struggling adolescence miss out on getting the best educational opportunities. This will hold them back from future opportunities and the cycle will begin once again.

If single mothers were able to have equal pay, their stress over finances would not be as prevalent. This being said, the mothers will be able to spend more time with their children and make sure that their studies come first. Also, if an adolescent in the home is struggling with homework, they may not always be able to get it finished because they are confused with the material. Although they can wait until the next day to ask the teacher, it still puts them a step behind the other students who finish their work on time. The mothers who are constantly working would be able to help this situation if they were able to make the same amount of pay that a man would get, and have more time to spend with their children to keep them on track with their education priorities.

In conclusion, it is a huge issue for women who make less money than men; while doing the same EXACT job. Not only is it an issue, but also it is unfair. The affects of not having equal pay are huge, and can really damage the relationship between the mother and the adolescence. The adolescence is robbed from having the opportunities that they could have if only their single mother was equally paid. Not only would their needs be covered, but their mothers would be able to have time to spend with them and nurture them. Also, their education will not be at it’s best opportunity because they are either not putting in the effort from not having the support, or struggle because they cannot keep up with their classmates; from having lack of help that their mothers could be doing. The single mothers are working too hard for little pay and because of it, the adolescence do not get the things that are valued the most.

Works-Cited

"Knowledge Center." Catalyst. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/womens-earnings-and-income 

Coy, Peter, and Elizabeth Dwoskin. "Shortchanged: Why Women Get Paid Less Than Men." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 21 June 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-21/equal-pay-plaintiffs-burden-of-proof

They Make How Much?" Investigating Faculty Salaries To Examine Gender Inequalities." Teaching Sociology 33.4 (2005): 380-388. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.