Gender Wage Gap in Families

In society family is scene as nuclear with a father, mother and children. The father is usually the breadwinner, while the mother takes care of the house and children. The reality is that not every family is nuclear and there is a variety with single mothers, divorced parents, women being breadwinners and so forth. Women are expected to leave their jobs to take care of the children, but some women stay at their jobs. Those mothers who decide to still work are affected by the gender wage gap. In the article by www.nwlc.org, it calculates how much the difference of the wage gap would add up at the end of the year to 10,876. They break down what that money could have paid for over the course of the year. The article states how if the wage gap could close it would improve finances because women hurt economically more than men. Finances could be more focused on to the families and being able to pay for daycare or groceries. Single mothers who are the breadwinners face more of a hit in the wage gap because they are the sole provider of the children. According to Susan Lhrer, in her article "Family and Women's Lives" she discusses how the Industrial Revolution causes a shift for women to start working outside the home. She states, "Although male workers were not well paid, their wages were expected to support a family; women were expected to be self-supporting, let alone able to support anyone else." (Pg. 252). This difference in wage gap for mothers has been at the start since the Industrial Revolution because of the roles women used to do. Since women have started to work outside the home shouldn't the be compensated for the childcare they have to pay for to be able to still work? In Michael Kimmel's article he states, "Working outside the home also increases women's self-esteem and sense of personal efficacy and well-being, so working mothers tend to be happier in their marriages-which divorce less likely...both nationally and in each family, the solution turns out to be greater gender equality-not women working less outside the home, but men working more inside it." (Pg. 302). With more men helping inside the home it could help out women more and encourage them to go to work. All in all, the gender wage gap is important because it affects the families economic earrings. If women were paid the same as men would more work outside the home? Would women not have as many barriers or stress to have the pressure to take care of the family if the gender wage gap was solved? What solutions could be use to have the gender wage gap be solved? 
Sources: http://www.nwlc.org/resource/how-wage-gap-hurts-women-and-families  Lehrer, Susan. 2003. “Family and Women’s Lives.” Pp. 251-256 in Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology edited by Amy Kesselman, Lily D. McNair and Nancy Schniedewind. Boston: McGraw Hill. 
Kimmel, Michael. 2004. “The ‘Constructed Problems’ of Contemporary Family Life.” Pp. 301-308 in Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings edited by Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee. Boston: McGraw Hill.