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Essay / Gender and race-based income inequality and its impacts on people
Inequality involves different dimensions on a global scale, e.g. income inequality, gender inequality and racial inequality, etc. Growing income inequality is a defining challenge of our time. . The gap between rich and poor has reached its highest level in decades. According to the book “The New Geography of Global Income Inequality,” inequality is defined as the absence of equality. Income inequality can occur at different levels of aggregation; income can vary between individuals, such as individual level of inequality, household level and between countries. In the following paragraphs, he will use individual income inequality as an example to illustrate. Globally, the wage gap in income and wealth continues over the years. This also has an impact on Hong Kong society. Thus, gender and racial inequality will be used as an example, to illustrate the impacts and reasons for reductions. Furthermore, how can social policy and social protection reduce the income-wealth wage gap. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayTaking gender income inequality as an example, the richest people in the world are predominantly men, while women are more likely to be poor than men. The Hong Kong Inequality Report (2018) by the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief reported that the global gender wage gap was 14.1%. As a result, across the world, the average income of women is lower than that of men. This situation occurred not only globally, but also in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, the median monthly employment income of employed men is higher than that of employed women from 1996 to 2017. The median monthly employment income of employed men was $19,000, while the income of women was $19,000. Only $13,000, which showed the sex. wage inequality. Due to the causes of gender income inequality, some women in Hong Kong are unable to work due to family obligations. Therefore, they are only available to work part-time or reduced hours employment. However, these jobs pay minimum wage, offer little protection and do not contribute to poverty reduction. There is another reason behind gender income inequality, namely the “motherhood penalty.” Each father experienced an average salary increase of more than 6% for each child, but the mother experienced an average salary decrease of 4% for each child. As a woman, a mother may face employer bias and a “motherhood penalty.” Employers have irrational thoughts towards a mother, they think that taking care of children will affect the woman's working ability, which will lead to a negative impact on women's income. These are the reasons caused by gender income inequality. In addition to gender inequalities in income and well-being, racial inequalities in income and well-being are another social problem worth worrying about. According to the "Hong Kong Ethnic Minority Poverty Situation Report 2016", if foreign domestic workers are excluded, there were 254,700 ethnic minorities in Hong Kong in 2016. Furthermore, the report stated also that there was a wide pay gap. gap in racial income. THEMedian incomes for white, Japanese, and Korean households were $500,000 and $33,800. However, the median household incomes of Thailand and Indonesia were $105,000 and $108,000. Furthermore, ethnic minorities responded that after being hired, their salaries were lower than those of Hong Kongers. For the same work, the income of Hong Kongers was $700, but that of ethnic minorities was only $500 per day. Therefore, income between different races constituted inequality in Hong Kong. Due to the causes of income inequality by race, the number of holders among Pakistani households is low. This is because their family members had to take care of several children, so they lacked time to work and they bore heavy financial burdens. Inequalities have serious consequences on people, the impacts are twofold, which have a positive impact and a negative impact. According to Davis and Moore (1945), social stratification is functionally important. Social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different employment. Different jobs have different incomes. Additionally, social stratification is beneficial in promoting excellence, productivity, and efficiency. Therefore, it gives people something to fight for. Income inequality in a society is social stratification. Low-income people, such as women and ethnic minorities, will fight for more income through excellence, productivity and efficiency. However, the negative impact of inequality is more than positive. First, the effect of inequality on social stability. Inequality is more likely to induce criminal behavior, it will affect social stability and social order. Block and Heineke (1975) argue that differences in wages and income levels lead to criminal behavior. People on low incomes, such as some women and ethnic minorities, make up the poor group in society. They may try to improve the current situation or change wealth through criminal behavior, for example theft, burglary and theft. The greater the inequality, the higher the crime. These crimes will endanger social stability and security. Thus, inequality leads to the negative impact of crimes. Inequality affects the quality of life of citizens. According to the 2014 Credit Suisse report, the largest drop in median monthly household income was HK$95,000, and the smallest drop was only HK$5,000. At the same time, Hong Kong's richest 10% of residents owned 77.5% of the city's wealth. The low-income household has only a few resources for its daily life, but the high-income household has a wide range of resources to have a better life. For example, some ethnic minorities and women face the problem of low income. Therefore, greater inequality leads to a greater difference in the quality of life in society. Furthermore, inequality results in an inharmonious society. Women and ethnic minorities who work hard to increase their income and work hard. Simply, the economy is controlled by the rich and suppresses their income. Even though they work very hard, there is still a wage gap between them and high earners. They hate rich and high income people in society. Anti-rich sentiments will arise, which will affect social harmony. Therefore, inequality has serious consequences on people and society, so it is important to reduce inequality. It is suggested to reduce inequalities throughredistributive policies, to improve current politics and well-being. First, the government should redistribute income and wealth through social mechanisms, transferring income and wealth from individuals to others. The consumption tax is essential to reduce inequalities. Consumption tax is a tax on the consumption of goods and services. The richest people or those with higher incomes have a higher consumption capacity. The more they consume, the more consumption taxes they have to pay. After collecting consumption taxes from citizens, the government can redistribute income through social mechanisms. Thus, the government can use these consumption taxes to improve social support service or subsidies for low-income people. Second, the above suggestion is for redistributive policies, then tax revenues will be increased, so the government could use these tax revenues for redistributive policies. The government could educate employers about family-friendly employment practices. Women with family commitments often have to juggle family and work. It ensures that women will not be "penalized for motherhood", so that the process of childbirth, breastfeeding and caring responsibilities will not have an effect on their employment, employment opportunities or salary , etc., thus providing greater inequality for women in the workplace. Third, due to gender income inequality, the Hong Kong government should resolve the "maternity penalty" by extending paternity leave for men. Taking care of the child is still considered a female responsibility. Many countries have extended male paternity leave. It allows husbands to share childcare responsibilities so that wives can return to the workforce as quickly as possible. In Hong Kong, the male paternity leave policy is only five days, while Singapore subsidizes two weeks of paid male paternity leave for the father. Additionally, Finland provides up to eight weeks of paternity leave for men. The Hong Kong government should expand male paternity leave to reduce the impact of the "maternity penalty" and childbirth. This can reduce employers' biases against women who are mothers, so that employers are more willing to hire women with higher salaries and increase women's income levels. For ethnic minorities, it is also necessary to strengthen the protection of the “Racial Discrimination Ordinance”. In fact, racial discrimination is common in Hong Kong society. Some employers do not hire the employee because he or she is of a different race. Thus, their chances of employment are lower than those of the local population because they belong to ethnic minorities. Additionally, it is common to see unequal pay for equal work, which corresponds to income inequality. It is hoped that the "Racial Discrimination Ordinance" can strengthen the protection of equal pay for equal work, so as to improve the inequality situation. Additionally, after redistribution policies, the government could increase community care services for ethnic minorities. Most ethnic minority families had to care for multiple children, so they do not have time to work and earn extra income. Community care services for ethnic minorities can regulate their