Addressing priorities is needed

The gender pay gap has been addressed by many organizations. However, Professor Emeritus Yoko Ishikura breaks down that even though organizations publicly and privately are putting policies in place to limit the gender pay gap, these policies haven't been updated to accommodate the new reasons people work in our increasingly technological world.

Ishikura lists five main reasons that people work: financial reason, self-respect, identifying our strengths, developing and maintaining assets like relationships, and feeling as though we are in charge of our work. These five reasons according to Ishikura are fairly common sense, however, she asserts that they have rarely been asked again as society has changed and therefore new policies do not address the changing reasons that people work. Therefore, these new policies aren't close to solving other problems within the workplace.

I agree with Ishikura, while the gender pay gap is significant and needs to be solved, people finding value in themselves through their work is also important and companies need to remember that the only way to make employees equal isn't through financial reasons. There is also the idea of advancement in your field, commissions for being good at your job, and simple acknowledgment that can remind employees why they work and help to make employees feel more equal as they are all valued in the workplace.

Everyone needs to ask themselves why they personally work and ensure that where they are working provides them with the opportunity to engage in all of those reasons so that they can be fulfilled and equal to their coworkers.

Written by: Bryn Garick

Sources: Ishikura, Y. (2017). Why do we work and what do we get out of it. World Economic Forum. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/why-do-we-work/