A Tale of Two Genders

Introduction

This is a topic that is very personal to me, very controversial, very difficult to solve, and very fascinating. It has been proven in virtually every study ever done that women are still getting paid significantly less than men working similar roles and hours. The million dollar question is why, and of course, what can be done about it. There are people out there who study this sort of thing for a living, and write PhD dissertations on the subject, and it should be said that no one has come up with the undisputed reason for this phenomenon. While I cannot offer the same extensive amount of research and insight on the subject as the best in the field, I can offer my own perspective. I also cannot think of a better time to write about this topic than in March, Women's History Month.

A Little History

An obvious place to begin discussing this subject is to look at the discrimination against women in the past and how it has evolved. Inequality between men and women has existed as far back as history books go. The women’s rights movement in the United States began in the mid-1800’s with a push for voting rights, with leaders arising such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. After a long battle, the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote was signed into law in 1920.

Although some women have been in the workforce for some time, they had been in the minority until large numbers of women began working during World War II with many American men away at war. In 1942, The National War Labor Board requested employers to adjust wages to women to be equal to those paid to men, but most employers chose not to adhere to this voluntary request. Not only that, but many women were pushed out of the workforce when the war ended so that veteran men could return to their jobs.

Until the early 1960s, newspapers listed separate job postings for men and women, at times listing identical jobs for both sexes but with different pay scales. On June 10, 1963, congress passed the Equal Pay Act, making it illegal to pay a woman less than what a man would be paid for the same job. In 1964, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race and sex in employment. These Acts have not come close to solving the problem, though, because employers will always seek ways to cut expenses, and unequal pay is difficult to prove because payroll is seldom discussed among employees (and always held close to the chest in human resources), and job descriptions are often written to be just so different that it becomes more difficult to compare wages for similar roles. This problem was somewhat addressed in Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co in 1970, Corning Glass Works v. Brennan in 1974, Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education in 2005, and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2009, but none of these have really solved the problem completely.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/equalpayact1.html

Current Wage Gap Statistics and Study Findings

Although closing the gap in wages for women has improved over the decades, it still needs quite a bit of improvement. Women are currently earning about 77-80% of the wages men earn working similar hours and jobs (depending on the study and the scale used, such as weekly or yearly earnings). This is an improvement over the rate of 59% in the early 1970’s, but considering the commonly-held belief that women now have equal rights and abilities in the workplace since the Equal Pay Act, the 80% rate is still an abomination. Many of the world’s top companies have yet to institute any policies that would address the disparity in pay and in advancement opportunities, and most companies do not even have systems to track salary differences by gender. Only 15 of the Fortune 500 companies are currently run by women, and the absense of women in leadership positions trickles down to many higher-level positions as well.

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/business/global/08manage.html?ref=business
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2009-01-01-women-ceos-increase_N.htm

Speculated Reasons for the Wage Gap

Over the years, many hypotheses have emerged as to why a wage gap still exists. Perhaps the first thing to consider is the methodologies of the studies finding the wage gaps. Some of these studies look at the gap as an aggregate—that is to say, the gap does not compare lawyers against lawyers and nurses against nurses, but rather averages all wages among women and compares it to those of men. The problem with this method is the high numbers of women in so-called “pink-collar” jobs, or jobs historically believed to be predominantly held by women and that have lower pay, such as nurses and teachers. The reason why women are drawn to these types of jobs is a study all on its own, but the simple fact that more women occupy these jobs and more men occupy jobs as executives in high-paying industries, so the average is inevitably skewed.

Still, not all studies measure the wage gap in this manner. In fact, a study through the Center of Gender Studies found that only four occupations where women earned more than men: special education teachers, order clerks, electrical engineers, and food preparation. In all other occupations, women’s pay lagged behind. The study also found that the gap did not improve with education; quite the contrary, among those with higher levels of education, the gap actually widened.

Another argument for the reason for the wage gap is that women work less, take more time off, or have more gaps in their work history due to pregnancy or other family-related issues. First, studies like these usually only include those working full-time, so the part-time or unequal hours argument does not hold. When it comes to breaks in experience, this could potentially account for problems in achieving equal pay. In some jobs or industries, breaks in work experience mean becoming out-of-touch with industry trends or a loss of drive and productivity. However, this deserves a closer look. In actuality, the wage gap widens when looking at men and women who work longer hours. In addition, it seems that women may have to work longer to get promotions that will lead to higher salaries, as women in higher-level positions have more years of work experience than men in similar positions.

http://www.womensmedia.com/new/Lips-Hilary-gender-wage-gap.shtml
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/article/salary-checkup-is-the-gender-pay-gap-over/390638/

Call to Action

It is difficult to propose a solution without understanding the nature of the problem. However, there might be a few things that could help address the issues:

1. Better tracking of wage discrepancies within organizations
Since most companies hold no methods for tracking possible gaps in wages, a logical place to begin would be to monitor the situation to see if a problem exists on a company-level.
2. Better handling of potential sex discrimination issues
Many times when issues like this exist, they are not addressed because women are concerned it can be a career setback. If problems like this were brought to the forefront more often, more awareness could be built in this issue and the involved companies could take action.
3. More transparency in wage and promotional opportunity
It is a separate argument (and a separate blog post altogether) for whether or not introducing more transparency in wages is a good thing for the organization as a whole. However, it would certainly bring problems like this to the surface and give women more insight into how to achieve promotions and raises.
4. Widespread training in career development and negotiations
This may be an old-fashioned suggestion, but women seem to negotiate less often. They are more likely to accept offers and be grateful to have one than to put themselves at risk by pushing for what they deserve. Men seem to fight for themselves more instinctively, and perhaps with a little more of a push, women can find a way to get what they deserve as well.