According to the 2010 data from the California Department of Finance, the City of Dublin now has 48,821 people. The City has consistently been one of the fastest growing cities in Alameda County for the past several years. In 2008, as reported by the Bay Area Census, 50.5% of Dublin’s population was male and 49.5% was female. Most women living in Dublin are part of the workforce, and many have thriving careers.

Nearly 50 years ago, the enactment of the Equal Pay Act abolished differences in wage based on gender. While women have gained more equality in the workplace, a wage gap based on gender remains. In “Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2009,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Department of Labor outlines how in 2009, the median weekly earnings for female full-time wage and salary workers was 80% what men make ($657 for women and $819 for males). Full-time is considered to be working 35 hours per week or more.

The wage gap between the sexes varies with the type of occupation, location, level of education and race, among other factors. When looking at California, women earned 88.7 percent of what men earned. Women who work full time in management, business and financial operations earned the most of the major occupational categories with a median weekly earnings of $955, which is only 72.7 percent of what men made in that occupational group. These positions include chief executives, managers in advertising, promotions, marketing and sales, public relations, compliance officers, human resources and meeting and convention planners. In computer and mathematical occupations such as computer scientists and systems analysts, computer programmers, database administrators and actuaries, women earn 88.1 percent of what men earn. In health care practitioner and technical occupations such as veterinarians, physicians, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, women earn 78 percent of what men earn. The data also seems to suggest that as women work more hours, the gap between the genders increases.

One of the reasons women get paid less than men may be due to the fact that a larger percentage of women work part time compared to men. About 26 percent of women who were wage and salary workers in 2009 had part time work, whereas 13 percent of men worked part time. This difference has remained relatively constant throughout the years, yet it still does not explain why women in the same occupation as men, working the same amount of hours, continue to get paid less.

Another reason for the apparent wage gap may be that women tend not to be as aggressive in salary negotiation as men. When they begin working, women in general may not push to get a higher salary, and they may be less likely to ask for a raise later in their careers. In looking at the different way men and women negotiate, a study by Babcock and Laschever found that male graduating professional school students were eight times more likely to negotiate beginning salaries and pay compared to the female students. Another study by Gerhart and Rynes has shown that MBA students, whether male or female, were equally likely to negotiate salaries, but the male students were more successful in getting what they were negotiating for, thus resulting in the observed difference in wages.

Sexism and discrimination also play a role in the wage gap. Jobs that are stereotypically seen to be “women’s work” paid less, such as food preparation and teaching. Some employers may also look down on women. This discrimination may come from people who believe that women are not as competent as their male counterparts and will leave the workplace to have kids.

The discriminatory judgments placed on minorities and women are demonstrated in research done by Hekman et al. in the paper “An examination of whether and how racial and gender biases influence customer satisfaction.” In that study, the researchers videotaped a female and male actor who took on the role of an employee aiding a customer and found that viewers were 19 percent more satisfied with the male representative’s job, even though the woman and man performed the same and read the same script. Similar findings were reported when equally qualified male and female doctors were rated. Male doctors were rated as being more approachable and better at their job than the female doctors.