Running Head: Occupational Equality Pay

Occupational Equality Pay: Genre Analysis Survey and Documentary

University of Texas at El Paso
Brijunee Orange

Occupational Equality Pay

It is the year 2016 where women are able to get a degree at universities, work in any
career field and are seen more than just a housewife. As Americans might think everything is
now fair for all because of equality for women, it is nothing but the complete opposite. Women
are often still seen as objects in music videos, and are still restricted when it comes to certain
military positions. America has this idea that we are the land of the free, yet are limited with
some laws. Furthermore, women pay more than men when it comes to hygiene products, and
clothing etc. What is the purpose of these limitations? A documentary which discussed a variety
of reasons the gender gap is still in existence today, answered that ideal question. A brief survey
was conducted to both genders, and their opinions of women not getting paid as much as men.
The main focus of this documentary is to attract both sexes in the movement of changing
the pay within employers whom discriminate for equal pay. According to the documentary it
started to speak on womens history of them fighting for equality since the 19th century. Women
during that time were merely property and were not considered anything but that. Now the year
2016, women are able to get an education to their highest degree and work at any field they
desire. The issue today involves womens career field and having them get paid to match their
degree salary. This documentary has you question the reason why woman only make $0.78 cents
to every dollar compared to a man. During the documentary it brings up other countries whom
are the opposite compared to the United States and pay women the same as men (Alexandria,
September 23, 2016).
The other genre being analyzed provided one survey question, being asked what people
thought about equal pay for men and women. It was a total of twelve people with a combination
of six males two of which owned businesses, and six women one whom owns a business as well.
About fifty percent of the men said women actually get paid more than men nowadays while the

Occupational Equality Pay

business owners said: if there are more men in that career field then women, it is only fair to
pay them more depending on the situation. When I surveyed the women they were all in the
same boat of I went to school, and worked my tail off just to get paid less than a man who cant
multi-task? Two clearly different perspectives that really opened my eyes on this genre
analysis. The last view point is of the business owner who said: Sexism is still very common,
and has pretty much been accepted everywhere in a global view, and indeed people do lack
seriousness when it comes to this type of subject involving women but change is bound to
happen (Rogers, personal communication, September 25,2016).
Audience and Purpose
Pursuing this further, the documentary is meant to open eyes to both employers and the
general public. Being aware that a women having a doctoral degree in engineering (which is
considered male-dominate field), is not getting paid up to the standards of her degree. The
majority of jobs where women actually get paid for their services is nursing, dental assistants and
secretaries. Women should be seen beyond the care-taker phase and more so of male
dominating fields too. Moving on, the documentary involves maternity leave and all the double
standards on that subject, Women have been starting movements and will continue repeating that
until the main issues get resolved. Women from the 19th century fought for women in todays
society in order for change, and only dreamt that women would continue on with the fight
against equality in America if that change did not happen.
The survey was to see viewpoints from different perspectives of males and females, and
business-owners to non-business owners. While the women were head-on with their opinions on
the subject, the men felt as of women were asking for too much given the circumstances.

Occupational Equality Pay

Nothing will really change until a bill is signed and its official. The survey brought to my
attention that equality is somewhat difficult to establish when it depends heavily on multiple
perspectives.
Rhetorical Issue
The documentary and survey both, gave reasonings from three different viewpoints. One
from a womens point of view, mans point of view a business owner point of view. They all fall
short with one another as far as the true reasoning on not paying women what they deserve. The
documentary speaks on the possibilities why business dont offer equal pay, but doesnt have
straight facts only ones opinion. The survey brings more to the table as far as stating some facts,
for example on how women will eventually get equal pay but it takes time.
Ethos
Ashley, whom is the creator of the documentary introduces the idea into peoples mind
set of what needs to changed and the five Ws of why it needs to happen immediately. She goes
further into discussing personal experiences at her workplace as a physicist. She speaks on how
she is always looked down upon, because there are hardly any women physicist in her
workplace. Going into more detail, she complains to her boss (who is a male), and brings up the
issues going on. All her boss tells her is tough cookie. Angered at his response she started a
small womens movement called Beginners Luck.
Surveying the business owners both the male and female, they opened up about similar
problems regarding maternity leave. They both say how thats when this subject is always put
into play, because the women gets more time off with little to nothing regarding pay, while the
male gets paid during the leave. The female spoke heavily on how she wishes there could be a

Occupational Equality Pay

law regarding this specific topic (Hails, personal communication, September 25th, 2016). The
male business owner brought up the idea of creating overtime for both genders, so that way it is
somewhat equal.
Logos
The documentary brings up cases where women who worked at a certain place for so
long with no pay raise, and gets often overlooked in the work place. She brings up a study that
Oxford university conducted back in 2009 for every 6 women in the workplace only 2 of them
will actually get a pay raise. Furthermore, for every 4 men in the workplace 3 of them will get a
pay raise.
The survey that was conducted the women seemed to voice their opinions further than the
simple questions I asked. Seems like they have each experienced some sort of sexism in the
workforce, based off of their tone of voice and views on this topic.
Pathos
The documentary brings up personal experiences from Ashleys point of views, and how
something has got to change. Even though she does not work at that specific company anymore,
she doesnt want things that happened at her workplace to continue on anymore.
Business owner Rogers thought this was a very sensitive topic that sooner or later needed
to be put to rest, because it has happened so frequently but is often overseen by many businesses.
He hopes that things change but doesnt think things will change as quickly as Ashley would
probably like to.
References

Occupational Equality Pay

1. (Rogers, H., personal communication, September 27,2016)
2. Ashley, A. (Producer). (2016) Todays Gender Gap [ YouTube series].

Occupational Equality Pay

Occupational Equality Pay