Work and Inequality

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Work and Inequality
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Work Inequality

• Work is important to social mobility, life style,
  self identity, feelings of self worth.
• Challenges organizational effectiveness

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Employment Discrimination

• Typecasting jobs
• Employer and coworker behavior

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Equal Rights Legislation

• Title VII of U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Established the Equal Employment Opportunity
  Commission
• Since then added age (1967) and disabilities
  (1990) as illegal basis for employment selection,
  promotion, or retention

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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2006)
Percent of the Work Force
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2003 Median Hourly Wages (Work in America
2004-2005)
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Affirmative Action

• Executive order
• Preferential hiring among equally qualified
  candidates

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Attitudes

• Occupational steering
• Role of counselors, mentors
• Personal expectation and preferences

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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2002)
Percent Women in the Occupational Area
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Comparable Worth

• Washington state found guilty of discrimination
  based on comparable worth logic

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State of Minnesota (2004)

• Pay Equity is a method of eliminating
  discrimination against women who are paid less
  than men for jobs requiring comparable levels of
  expertise.  This goes beyond the familiar idea of
  "equal pay for equal work" where men and women
  with the same jobs must be paid equally. A policy
  to establish pay equity usually means  1) that
  all jobs will be evaluated and given points
  according to the level of knowledge and
  responsibility required to do the job and 2)
  that salary adjustments will be made if it is
  discovered that women are consistently paid less
  then men for jobs with similar points. The
  following example from a 1982 evaluation of state
  government jobs shows a typical sex-based wage
  disparity.
• Delivery Van Driver (mostly men)117 points 1900
  per month 
• Clerk Typist  (mostly women) 117 points
  1400 per month

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Canada

• Comparable Worth Legislation was implemented in
  stages, with wage adjustments required in the
  public sector by January 1990, for private sector
  employers with 500 employees or more by January
  1991, and for private employers with 100-499
  employees by January 1992. Compliance is
  voluntary for organizations with fewer than 100
  employees those employing fewer than 10 are
  completely exempt.