Pay discrimination presents one of the predominant issues in modern society of the U.S. According to information provided by the American Association of University Women (AAUW 2021), full-time working women are currently making significantly less than men, with only 83 cents paid for every dollar earned by men. Representatives of racial minorities are also subjected to pay disparities, making the yearly income of Hispanic, Asian, and Black women even smaller (Chen et al., 2018). One of the areas that are mostly affected by gender and race pay disparities is the newsroom sphere.
The critical change required to ensure pay equity is getting rid of old orders that cultivate inequality in the media sphere. Issues with pay disparities in the media and communications are sourced in the early stages of media development. Women had limited access to work due to the majority of workplaces being occupied by men. Even though women were frequent on television and favored by the viewers, they had limited decision-making power (Gilger & Wallace, 2019). According to Miller (2021), the newsroom industry is currently dominated by white workers, with more than 70 percent white full-time workers. Minorities and LGBTQQIP2SAA representatives are often utilized for representation demands expressed by the viewers but underpaid despite contributing the same amount of work as their white and straight counterparts.
The only critical change that could ensure pay equality is the forced suspension of older executives who contributed to the development of existing disparities. Eliminating the people who openly or implicitly utilize policies that favor employees’ career progression depending on their race or gender will provide more opportunities for the young generation of journalists and reporters. Moreover, it will prevent others from following the policies implying pay disparities and will establish a positive climate in the media.
References
American Association of University Women. (2021). The simple truth about the gender pay gap. Web.
Chen, E., Lei, C., Ma, A., & Ng, J. (2018). Mind the gap: Uncovering pay disparity in the newsroom. Voices. Web.
Gilger, K. G., & Wallace, J. (2019) There’s no crying in newsrooms: What women have learned about what it takes to lead. Rowman & Littlefield.
Miller, G. (2021). New union study claims gender, racial pay inequities in Gannett newsrooms. Columbia Journalism Review. Web.