Socialist feminism
Gender pay gap
### Gender pay gap

Socialist feminist theories have been used to highlight the economic disparities amongst women on a global scale. Contemporary socialist feminists have shifted their concerns from uncompensated house labor to the insufficient pay women receive for work done outside the home. Although some women have secured high\-paying male\-dominated jobs, most find work in service, clerical, agriculture, and light industrial work. Feminist philosopher [Rosemarie Tong](/wiki/Rosemarie_Tong "Rosemarie Tong") presents three common reasons for the gender wage gap: "the concentration of women in low\-paying, female\-dominated jobs; the high percentage of women who work part\-time rather than full\-time; and outright wage discrimination against women."

The gender pay gap has been produced and sustained through patriarchal and capitalist conditions. The feminization and devaluation of service\-based jobs have subjected women to low wages. The lack of access women have to alternative employment which may harbor higher pay, has increased the wage gap. Households that cannot hire additional aid for domestic duties limit the hours women are able to work outside their homes—having to do both outside and inside labor results in the uncompensated "second shift", expanding the gap. Women's work is considered "secondary wages" under patriarchy. Even women who can work full\-time and do the same jobs as men are not paid equally. Tong claims that "women are paid less simply because they are *women,* a very disturbing thought to say the least."

The gender pay gap is an issue that is especially prevalent in the United States. In *Feminist Policy and Human Nature*, Allison Jagger describes the biological differences between women and men that would affect job performance namely "Most evidently, women's reproductive functions may mean that women have needs for pregnancy leave, maternity services and arrangements for easy access to their nursing babies." This fact insists that it is not only important but it is necessary for the workplace to incorporate this fairly into contracts. Forcing women to take unpaid maternity leave goes into the issue of the gender wage gap since women have reproductive needs that go far beyond men but are not compensated for that.

In looking at the amount of unpaid labor that women have worked over centuries is a major issue regarding unpaid labor in the house and in childcare. Women in capitalism are not compensated for their role in the household including housework, cooking, cleaning, childcare and the cost of carrying and delivering a child. "Contracts for husbands to pay their wives for domestic services have been found invalid by the courts. If housewives do not like the conditions of their work they are hardly free to move to another household; instead, they are tied by an elaborate legal contract which can only be broken on special grounds. Marriage is, in fact, a relation that is remarkably similar to the feudal relation of vassalage; it provides a means for exchanging support and protection from the husband in return for services and devotion from the wife." The idea of a contract for husbands to pay their wives is an exaggerated circumstance yet for decades it was the expectation that the woman would be considered a housewife and the man would be the breadwinner and make decisions for the family. This idea of women's unpaid labor is more than simply the housework and childcare services; it's the fact that the labor housewives did was considered compulsory instead of labor. This is the type of thinking and mentality that the socialist feminism and women who want more of these

In 2017, there was an international women's strike protesting the unfair treatment of women in today's society. The strike included over 50 countries and occurred on international women's day. The strikes in each country were focused on an injustice in that specific country. In the United States women protested by not working or spending money to show how much influence women have.


What is the gender pay gap?