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#10986 Rebuttal EO
#10986 Rebuttal EO
Marcus Goldsby
20 April 2020
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Contrary to the opinion that there is no place for gender-based pay discrimination in
workplaces because it is unfair and raises legal issues, there are some reasons and situations
where unequal treatment may be necessary or overstated. In some situations, the gender
difference in a vocation contributes to varying levels of input, and therefore per unit output. In
the cases where the males produce less than the females, for instance, a lower pay would be
justified for the former. Even if they are functioning in the same or similar capacities, when there
is a difference in their contributions, it would not be unfair or illegal to offer differing payments.
Also, staff members are only entitled to the incomes that they accepted in their contracts,
independently of what their colleagues earn in identical positions. Independent payment is both a
prerogative and privilege of the employer, which is based on personal and professional analysis
of value. Thus, it is arguable that there is a place for remuneration-based gender discrimination
in vocations.
The first justification for discriminatory pay in some vocations is the difference in the overall
comparative output of the two genders. In trying to understand why lady athletes get paid less
than their gentlemen counterparts in the majority of sports positions, Abrams did acknowledge
that in tennis, top females earn competitively close incomes to males (2018). In individual sports
such as tennis and martial arts, outstanding individuals are better placed to attract unique
audiences and corporate attention. Because of their uniqueness, the athletes in these sports earn
more than their competitors. Differentiated talent, therefore, is a more significant indicator of the
need for difference in payment than gender is. In the UFC, Rhonda Rousey earned millions of
dollars in a competitive sport where even the most gifted males generated mere thousands for
their brutal efforts. Also, when she was knocked out by a rival female, she did not lose her elite-
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earning status but instead made the two ladies who beat her enter or move closer to her league of
income.
Even after out-earning the males in mixed martial arts, Rhonda moved to the WWE, where
she now earns tens of times more than other male and female professional wrestles. This shows
that discrimination of payment is justified when a star attracts millions more in revenue and
audiences, regardless of their gender and the average earnings of their counterparts.
Another justification for discriminatory payments is the value of the employee or player,
regardless of their gender. In the sports mentioned above, franchise, UFC, Connor McGregor, is
the highest-earning athlete. Every time journalists ask why he received preferential treatment and
remuneration, the Chief Executive Officer, Dana White, always defends his stand that the
Irishman is an exceptional athlete. Far from the difference in gender, Connor even earns ten
times as much as the opponents that he faces. Further up the wealth chain, Floyd Mayweather
generated thrice as much as McGregor when they competed in a cross-sports clash in 2017. In
unconventional professions where there are promoters with contractual power, the right to
In conclusion, political correctness should not inspire the direction that leaders of
corporations take when paying their employees. There is a need to rethink political correctness
when choosing a stand against differences in incomes and other presumed forms of
discrimination from a philosophical perspective (Doria, 2017). Just because the global consensus
is that males and females should receive equal earnings, it does not make it unrealistic to expect
outliers. However, workers in similar positions should generally earn matching salaries, some
unique circumstances. Personal abilities and the liberty of firms must be taken into account as
well. However, all factors held constant, and income discrimination is an ethical flaw that can
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have some legal implications. To discourage labor-related cases and damages reputations, most
References
Abrams, O. (2019, June 23). Why female athletes earn less than men across most sports.
Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviaabrams/2019/06/23/why-female-athletes-
earn-less-than-men-across-most-sports/#551484c240fb
Wilkie, D. (2017, February 27). When two workers doing the same job earn different pay.
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/pay-
disparity-for-same-job.aspx