Equal Pay Research Articles

GENDER EQUITY AGAINST “ECONOMIC REALITIES”: HOW A CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO MOVEMENTS RESHAPED THE CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING OF PAY

In the United States today, there is a broad cultural understanding that market forces drive pay outcomes. But prior to the 1980s, pay was understood to be the product of bureaucratic processes internal to organizations. The question of whether pay is determined by the market or organizational decisions is essential for evaluating employers’ liability for gender pay inequality, as employers are not responsible for inequalities resulting from the “economic realities” of the labor market. This article locates the shift in cultural beliefs about pay in key court decisions in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, a social movement for pay equity used the idea of comparable worth to hold organizations accountable for inequality between jobs held by women and similarly valuable jobs held by men. But the judges who ruled on these cases were informed by a different movement, known as law and economics, which led them to conceptualize pay as the product of market forces instead of organizational decisions. These judges’ decisions limited employers’ liability for the pay gap and precipitated a transformation of the cultural common sense of pay within organizations, which increasingly adopted market-based approaches. The case of comparable worth highlights the role of judges, who have a unique role in determining the impact of social movements while themselves being targeted by such movements.

Equal Pay for Equal Work in the Dean Suite: Addressing Occupational Gender Segregation and Compensation Inequities Among Medical School Leadership.

In 2022, the Association of American Medical Colleges published data from its annual Dean's Office Staff Compensation and Dean's Compensation Surveys in a new report addressing salary equity among medical school leadership. These data, disaggregated by gender and race/ethnicity, represent earnings of the senior most leaders in the dean suite and have historically been shared only with medical school Deans and principal business officers. The report shows that the highest-ranking decanal positions in U.S. medical schools are filled along the lines of traditional gender stereotypes (with men in clinical affairs and research affairs deanships and women in admissions, diversity affairs, faculty affairs, and student affairs deanships) and that the roles held mostly by men carry grander titles (e.g., senior associate dean vs assistant dean) and significantly higher salaries than those typically held by women. Additionally, within the same decanal positions, women earn lower median compensation than men. In this commentary, the authors describe limited advancement and lower compensation as foregone conclusions for women in medicine and science due to a professional model that places a premium on activities traditionally pursued by men. They define and characterize the impact of this occupational gender segregation in the dean suite and offer a roadmap for an alternative value system that recognizes complementary leadership activities across the mission areas of academic medicine and ensures that the contributions of women in the profession are appropriately recognized, valued, and rewarded.

Understanding the pay equity from the idea of universal equality in traditional Chinese philosophy.

Pay equity is not only a manifestation of social behavior but also a reflection of gender attitude. In view of the close interactions between pay equity, gender attitude and cultural value, it is necessary to examine the social-psychological connotations behind the pay equity concept and to seek its theoretical basis and support at the philosophical level. By examining the main ideas in Chinese philosophy, this paper claims that traditional Chinese culture contains rich connotations related to the pay equity concept and the pursuit of gender equality. These ideas can not only shape implicit nondiscriminatory gender attitudes but also inhibit the male superiority and intergroup prejudice through the self-regulation mechanism. The collision between traditional ideological insights and the modern pluralistic society will certainly promote the renewal of gender equity and concomitant changes in social attitude and employment behavior.

Equal Work for Equal Pay.

Equal Work for Equal Pay.

Interpretation and Improvement Direction of the Principle of Equal Pay for Equal-value Work under the Employment Equality Act

Interpretation and Improvement Direction of the Principle of Equal Pay for Equal-value Work under the Employment Equality Act

Employees’ Perception of Pay Equity: Study on Vietnam’s State-Owned Enterprises

This article explores factors influencing the employee perceptions of pay equity during compensation reform in Vietnamese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) since economic reform ( Doi moi) started. A qualitative approach by conducting 43 interviews from selected SOEs and the Vietnam government bodies was used to investigate a research question: What are the factors influencing employee perceptions of pay equity in Vietnamese SOEs? The findings show that in the case of the Vietnamese SOE reform, the perceptions are influenced by both SOEs’ compensation policies and practices and the national culture. This study extends the equity theory by adding new findings from the context of a transitional economy and a reforming process of the SOEs. The present case shows that national culture also greatly influences the perception of pay equity alongside compensation factors.

Implementation of the European Youth Guarantee and the Right to Work: A Comparative Analysis of Traineeship Programmes Under the EU Active Labour Market Policy

This article analyses the consistency between the implementation of the EU Youth Guarantee and the fundamental right to work. Focusing on the use of traineeships as an implementation instrument, it explores various types of national Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) for young unemployed people in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Poland. The case studies show that it remains to be seen whether the traineeships considered in this research comply with the right to work. The authors argue for the need to strengthen the Youth Guarantee to accord with the right to work, so that in addition to the right to a first job, it ensures that work-related instruments include the provision of effective training, as well as the right to equal pay for work of equal value, and decent working conditions. This is particularly important in view of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, that has had an unprecedented economic impact in the EU and is likely to result in another dramatic upsurge in the number of young unemployed. Youth Guarantee, Right to Work, NEETs, Traineeships, Decent Work, Equal Pay, Active Labour Market Policies

Controlling for What? Movements, Measures, and Meanings in the US Gender Wage Gap Debate

Abstract Studies of the political power of economic knowledge have tended to foreground the role of causal claims in the form of grand theories or more narrow findings produced by experimental methods. In contrast, scholars have paid relatively little attention to the role of economic experts' descriptions. This article highlights one category of influential, quantitative descriptive claim: stylized facts. Stylized facts are simple empirical regularities in need of explanation. Focusing on the example of the gender wage gap in the United States, this article showcases how stylized facts travel into political debates, and how the choices made in characterizing an aspect of economic life (such as controlling for full-time work, but little else) interact with social movement activism, and folk understandings of economic life. The gender wage gap was first calculated in the 1950s, but did not take on special importance until the 1960s–1970s, when feminists rallied around the statistic as a useful aggregate measure of women's economic disempowerment. Academics soon followed, and sociologists and economists began to publish studies documenting trends in the gap and trying to account for its sources. The comparable worth movement of the 1980s explicitly argued that the wage gap resulted from occupational segregation and the devaluation of women's work. As that movement faltered in the late 1980s, the gender wage gap became increasingly understood through the lens of women's choices and trade-offs between work and family, and occupational segregation dropped out of the narrative. Throughout this period, the gap was frequently misunderstood or misrepresented as reflecting the narrow sort of same-job, different-pay discrimination made illegal by the 1963 Equal Pay Act, adding confusion to the public debate over women's economic position. These dynamics showcase how technical choices made in the identification of stylized facts, such as statistical controls, are simultaneously deeply political choices.

When Pay Equity Policy Is not Enough: Persistence of the Gender Wage Gap Among Health, Education, and STEM Professionals in Canada, 2006‒2016

This study examines gender, geographic, and earnings inequalities within and across 13 health, education, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and computer science) professions in Canada. Data from the 2006 and 2016 population censuses were pooled and linked to a continuous geospatial remoteness index for assessing trends in occupational feminization and associated employment earnings among degree-holding professionals aged 25–54. Linear regression and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methods were used to analyze how personal, professional, and socioenvironmental factors may attenuate or magnify wage differentials by sex. Results show the STEM professions tended to remain male-dominated, heavily urbanized, and subject to significantly lower earnings for women compared to men. Other historically female-dominated professions, notably nursing professionals and secondary school teachers, were characterized with geographic distributions most closely approaching the general population, relatively narrower gender wage gaps, but also lower average annual earnings. A significant gender wage differential was found in each profession, with women earning 4.6‒12.5% less than men, after adjusting for traditional human capital measures, social characteristics intersecting with gender, and community remoteness and accessibility. Residential remoteness and census period generally explained little of the gender wage gap. Despite decades of pay equity policies in Canada, women’s earnings averaged 2.3‒7.9% less than men’s due to unexplained factors, a finding which may be attributed, at least in part, to persistent (unmeasured) gender discrimination even in highly educated professions.

Changing Gender Gap and Practice Patterns in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Subspecialists in the United States: A Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Report

(Abstracted from Fertil Steril 2022;117:421–430) After the implementation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the pay gap between men and women for equal work has decreased from 62% to 80%. In the field of medicine, women make up greater than 50% of all students graduating medical school and approximately 40% of faculty members; yet, compared with male counterparts, women continue to be underpaid, obtain less funding, and are promoted at slower and lower rates.

Doing More than Thanking Black Women: The Influence of Intersectional Solidarity on Public Support for Policies

ABSTRACT There have been numerous calls to “thank” Black women for their consistent support of the Democratic Party. Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted that we need to do more than “congratulate” Black women. Harris stated, “Let’s address issues that disproportionately affect Black women.” With this in mind, understanding the formation of public opinion about issues that affect Black women is important. In service of this goal, I offer a theory and measure of a form of group consciousness called intersectional solidarity. I define intersectional solidarity as a set of political beliefs that is characterized by awareness of and distress over marginalized subgroups’ oppression. In this article I explore the influence of intersectional solidarity on policy support with a focus on policies that disproportionately affect Black women. Specifically, I examine the circumstances under which people support the Maternal CARE Act, a policy that addresses the racial disparity in maternal healthcare, as well as Equal Pay Certification which is a policy that addresses the race/gender pay gap. This article informs our expectations regarding both the barriers to but also the possibilities for support for policies that benefit marginalized subgroups like Black women. In doing so, this project provides insight into the possibilities for intersectional politics.

An Empirical Study on Compensation Management Practices in Digital Marketing Company

Compensation management is often referred as salary and wage administration. Human resource management department designs compensation policy. Organizations can be competitive if they update their compensation package according to market conditions. Standard human resource policy gives high priority for better compensation package. The parameters considered while designing compensation management are job responsibilities, experience, company budget and job market. Human resource managers design compensation strategy through scorecard. Pay equity can be attained with competitive compensation package. The research was conducted to the employee working in Hyderabad digital marketing companies. The hypotheses were tested using chi square test, ANOVA & other statistical testing tools.

Pay Equity in Applied Behavior Analysis.

Pay equity is the practice of minimizing employee wage inequalities based on gender, race, and other criteria. The goal of this practice is to ensure equitable compensation for comparable work and experience. Pay discrepancies have existed in a wide range of professional fields for many years; however, the degree to which equal and fair pay occurs among practicing applied behavior analysts is currently unknown, and represents an important step for ensuring parity in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA). We conducted an online survey to gather pay information from certified behavior analysts and analyzed pay equity across race and gender for each level of certification. Findings suggest that some level of pay inequity exist across all levels of certification. However, female minority groups tend to be affected by pay inequity the most, both in terms of average salary earned and increase in pay across levels of certification. Findings also indicate that a large proportion of ABA employers are female nonminorities. We discuss the implications of these findings and provide suggestions for improving pay equity in ABA.

The Struggle for Equal Pay, the Lament of a Female Statistician

There are many laws, state and federal, prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of protected categories – race, gender, national origin, age, disability. What is not so clear is what kind of discrimination is unlawful. Is it only disparate treatment discrimination, where one is denied a benefit because of her/his protected status? Or is it also disparate impact discrimination, where a facially neutral rule or practice has a disparate impact on members of a protected class? The latter category has provided ample engagement of statisticians whose evidence the courts must decide demonstrates sufficient disparity to constitute discrimination or not, as well as demonstrating that the impactful criterion is not really necessary for the position in question. In the seminal disparate impact case, it might have been easy to show that a high school diploma was not needed to be a lineman for a power company, but what about student evaluations for a faculty position?

An Examination of Similarity between a Costume Designer and a Production Designer: Job Analysis Goes to Hollywood

This study examines the similarity of two unique positions in Hollywood—a costume designer and a production designer. It applies traditional job analysis and job evaluation methods in an industry with little history of doing so. Job data from interviews, questionnaires, and secondary sources were content analyzed for themes and categories. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed for supplemental evidence in comparing the similarity of the two positions. The study incorporated criteria from the California Fair Pay Act of 2016 in the assessment. Eight subject matter experts (SMEs) provided both narrative and quantitative data in response to the comprehensive job analysis. The results of the study show that these positions are sufficiently similar according to the criteria set forth in the California Fair Pay Act, raising issues concerning observed pay disparities between these positions. The findings also support the use of traditional methods of human resource management and industrial and organizational psychology in novel industries with unique positions. Finally, conclusions, limitations and implications are considered.

The Gender Wage Gap as it Relates to State Partisan Control and Pay Equity Policy

This study offers an explanation to the interstate variation of the gender wage gap in the United States. Looking at political explanations as an answer for the wage gap’s persistence, I hypothesize that Democratically controlled state government positively impacts the state having pay equity policies, and that having these pay equity policies positively impacts the state’s gender wage gap. Using U.S. Census Bureau, National Conference of State Legislatures, and American Association of University Women with U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau data, I find that while there is a correlation between Democratically controlled state legislatures and pay equity policy and a correlation between Democratic majority legislatures and a narrower gender wage gap, there does not appear to be a direct association between pay equity policy and the state’s gender wage gap. The findings suggest that partisanship of the state legislature plays a key role in the wage equity policy of a state, as well as the reasoning that longstanding Democratic majorities have already passed policy to combat the apparent causes of the gap, and that more in depth policy is thus necessary to completely close it.

Welfare and economic impacts of Fair Pay Agreements in Aotearoa

ABSTRACT This paper performs the first quantitative economic analysis of the proposed Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) and analyses the welfare (or wellbeing) implications and economic effects of the proposed FPA for Aotearoa New Zealand. The new FPA system is designed to address weaknesses of the labour market in Aotearoa. Using a standard dynamic macroeconomic model with labour market imperfections via search and matching frictions calibrated for Aotearoa New Zealand, we simulate the macroeconomic and welfare effects of the FPA. To be precise, we model an increase in worker’s bargaining power. We find that this labour market reform will reduce overall welfare (or wellbeing) in the economy and will lead to increased unemployment, lower production and incomes, and higher inflation. In conclusion, while the reform will increase wages, it will reduce overall welfare and harm the economy and should, therefore, not be implemented.

The effects of equal pay laws on firm pay premiums: Evidence from Chile

This paper analyzes Chile’s 2009 Equal Pay for Equal Work Law (EPL) and its effects on firm pay premiums. The law affected firms with 10 or more workers and specified penalties by firm size, including a disclosure requirement for firms with 200 or more workers. We use matched employer-employee data to estimate worker-firm fixed-effects models, decomposing the firm’s contribution to the gender pay gap into bargaining power and sorting channels. The EPL reduces the firm premium gender gap by 6.1%, driven by the bargaining power channel. The effects are larger in firms exposed to higher penalties and disclosure requirements.

Основания для субъективной оценки справедливости оплаты труда научно-педагогических работников

Equity is defined as a correlation between a person's merits and their remuneration. The article deals with social and labour equity, regarding it as a subjective assessment of the ratio of payments for the physical and/or intellectual efforts of employees. The article aims to determine the grounds for the subjective assessment of academic and teaching staff pay equity. The empirical study was conducted in 2019-2020, based on expert interviews with 86 faculty members of leading Russian universities (University of Tyumen, Tomsk State University, Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, and National Research Nuclear University MEPhI). The expert interview narratives allowed identifying seven categories for assessing subjective perception of pay equity (1) at a corporate level; comparing faculty members (2) in Russia and (3) internationally; (4) in terms of public/business organisations; (5) different spheres of activity; (6) historical periods; and (7) previous positions held either in the same or other organizations. The results show that (1) disparity in pay within a university (between structural units and positions) can reduce motivation or increase career aspirations. A high level of social and labour equity provides a sense of stability and increases organisational productivity. (2) The level of pay equity in Russian universities depends on their prestige and ranking. (3) When comparing the level of remuneration and the workload with their Western colleagues, the respondents were more likely to prioritise Russia. Employees experienced in international academic mobility choose to work in Russia. (4) Compared to other spheres of activity, university wages are mostly lower whereas faculty members appreciate the opportunity to increase their income through active scientific research. (5) The last 3-5 years have seen a positive change in pay equity, with teachers and other jobs compared. (6) Comparison between historical periods shows a positive assessment of the current situation in Russia. However, not all the respondents believe in the long term perspective. (7) Pay at the early career is the lowest, but the teaching and research load is high. Young teachers invest a lot of time in career development, working on their dissertations. Pay equity assessment by teachers of retirement age is high, due to family stability and availability of additional funding (e.g. pension, support by children).

Gender-Related Pay Equity by State and Industry

The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental comparative study was to examine whether and to what extent there are differences in gender-related pay equity in the public sector, among states, and among industries in the United States. The theoretical framework for this study was provided by John S. Adams’s equity theory. The study was conducted with archival data from The American Community Survey. The analyzed dataset included 1,834 cases, with data for gender-related pay equity (measured as a percentage of females’ pay relative to males’ pay), state (51 states (including D.C.)), industry (five major industries), and subindustry (36 subindustries). District of Columbia lacked data from two subindustries. The data for the dependent variable had been aggregated from an original sample 2,145,639 survey participants. Two research questions addressed the differences in gender-related pay equity among the 51 states and among the five industries. The results of two one-way ANOVAs showed a significant difference in the gender-related pay equity among the 51 states (including D.C.), <i>F(50, 1740) = 1.69, p = 0.019, and </i>among the five major industries, <i>F(4, 1735) = 17.00, p < 0.01.</i> The study findings point to the national scope of pay equity problem, across states and across the major industries. These empirical findings provide a basis for the development of policies needed to address pay inequity, which negatively affects 74.6 million female American workers in the public sector only.