Over centuries, we have tried to discard practices that treat women any differently. Measures have been implemented and the international standards have been thoroughly discussed, aiming towards gender equality. Such measures include access to education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment. Despite these, gender biasness still exists even today. During US President Barack Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address in , he claimed that “Today, woman make up about half our workforce, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns…in 2014, that’s an embarrassment. It is wrong.” Although there have been evident progress, alarming issues regarding gender bias still prevail in various areas in society: (i) In the workforce; (ii) Education and career; (iii) Politics; (iv) Stereotypes at home; and (v) Violence and discrimination against women.
The gender gap has been decreasing as more girls are receiving proper education and graduating from colleges. While education means that women are theoretically able to seek out jobs with equal wages as men do, an improvement in gender equality does not always lead to equality in the workforce. Even today, women face obstacles in the workforce. The first obstacle is the persistent wage gap. Equal pay should be given to ensure gender equality is present. However, in the United States, in spite of the wage gap closing from 62 percent from 1979 to 82 percent in 2011 for both men and women, a gap still persists with older female workers not being paid as much as their younger counterparts. In certain Southeast Asian countries, men are given higher pays than women. Studies also show that working mothers face challenges being employed as employers find mothers more likely to sacrifice work for family commitments. In a 2007 study, Cornel University researchers submitted 1276 fake resumes for real jobs; the resumes