In many cases, we spend more time at work than we do at home. Thus, our professional colleagues become something of a surrogate family, just as the workplace becomes our secondary “home”. As you might well imagine, along with this connection comes a significant measure of an individual’s self-esteem and self-confidence.
In other words, we feel good about ourselves when we’re doing our jobs well and even better when we’re rewarded commensurately. This is typically reflected in our paychecks, which is exactly why the gender pay gap and women’s health are intertwined.
Mood Disorders
Think back to your childhood when you first discovered the concept of “fair”. In many cases, it was because the child next to you got a bigger cookie, more crayons, or something else that indicated that person was somehow being treated better than you. Flash forward to your grownup years and those feelings are still here — only amplified because now fairness translates into the availability of lifestyle choices.
Discovering you’re paid less than an equally placed colleague can lead to anxiety and depression. It can also leave one feeling they have little control over their situation, which can be particularly frustrating. This frustration can manifest itself in a form of self-loathing, in which women blame themselves for the circumstances.
Meanwhile, the problem is actually an institutional issue in need of correction.
Physical Ailments
These feelings of inequality persist, even when women go home. This is particularly when they are also fulfilling the traditional societal roles of wives and mothers. Running household errands, shopping, cleaning the home and caring for children can all be physically draining.
According to a study by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development cited by CNBC, American women between the ages of 15 and 64 engage in activities of this nature some 241 minutes per day. Meanwhile, their male counterparts only afford 145 minutes a day to such tasks. While this can be reasonably argued to be separate from the gender pay gap, it does stem from the same underlying gender biases within society.
Poverty Rates
There is a direct correlation between the health of a person and their financial standing. After all, people with less money tend to give ailments more time to fester in the hopes they will heal themselves — without the expense of seeing a medical professional.
The gender pay gap is a direct contributor to the fact that more households headed by women live in poverty. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the poverty rate among working women would fall from its current eight percent to 3.8 percent. Moreover, some 2.5 million fewer children would be lifted out of poverty if the gender pay gap were eradicated.
Less Healthy in Retirement
The effects of the gender pay gap carry over into retirement as well. UBS Wealth Management conducted a study in which the lifetime pay discrepancy between American men and women was analyzed. The findings revealed women made 38 percent less money than men by the age of 85.
This, in turn, translates into a smaller Social Security benefit and fewer dollars put away toward retirement, which can mean enduring a lower standard of elder care. In other words, because women are paid less, they’re more likely to suffer in less desirable facilities and live with untreated ailments when they’re of advanced age. Yes, Medicare takes up some of the slack, but if they encounter any issue beyond those covered by the national healthcare plan, they are on their own.
These are just a few of the many ways the gender pay gap has a direct influence on women’s health. It is absolutely critical we recognize these disparities and work to eliminate them for the good of society as a whole.
