What is the significance of comparable worth today

Moreover, critics of comparable worth point out that no evidence has been found that firms and industries with substantial employment in female jobs earn higher-than-average profits. The critics question why workers in predominately female occupations do not leave the supposedly undervalued occupations to take the better-paid male or mixed-gender jobs if discrimination is the sole reason for lower wages.

Some supporters of comparable worth have argued that women's mobility is limited because they are barred from entering nontraditional occupations. But this argument, which was valid in the past, has lost force over time as barriers have eroded. Moreover, if barriers to entry were the problem, the logical solution would be to remove the barriers, which are illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Many comparable worth supporters, however, do not allude to barriers but instead simply argue that women who choose to work in traditionally female occupations should not be penalized for their choices.

Although pay in women's occupations is below pay in typically male occupations, many economists believe that this fact alone is not evidence of discrimination by employers. Other factors unrelated to discrimination can explain gender differences in occupations and in pay. One important factor is that women typically have primary responsibility for the care of home and children and, as a result, work outside the home for 40 percent fewer years than men.

Anticipating a shorter and more uncertain career, therefore, women are less likely to invest in lengthy vocational schooling or training. Moreover, many women choose jobs that provide hours and other working conditions that are compatible with home demands.

The factors that limit their work reduce the wages women can earn in two ways. First, the occupations many women enter are paid less because they require less work experience and training and may impose costs on employers for providing the schedules and working conditions women value.

Second, women are likely to earn less than men in the same occupation because they typically have less experience and, therefore, less skill on the job. The situation described is by no means static, however. Younger women are working longer and taking shorter breaks for childbearing and child rearing. Because women expect to remain in the work force, they have greatly increased their representation in careers such as medicine and law, which require lengthy training periods.

As a result the wage gap narrowed considerably during the eighties. The relatively high ratio of women's to men's earnings at younger ages partly reflects the increased experience and skill acquired by younger women. Attempts by social scientists to measure the component of the wage gap accounted for by nondiscriminatory factors are inconclusive for two reasons.

First, data on complete work-life histories are hard to obtain, and what economists call career attachment basically, dedication to work is even harder to quantify. Several studies have found that about half of the wage gap can be explained by fairly crude measures of years of experience and schooling, leaving the reasons for the other half of the gap unresolved.

But when women and men with more similar backgrounds are compared—such as women and men with training in a particular field, or women and men who have never married—the pay gap tends to be much smaller than in the aggregate. For example, the pay gap between men and women with doctorates in economics is about 5 percent.

Discrimination almost certainly accounts for some of the gender gap. It is true that gradual shifts in society have allowed more women to enter higher paying fields. But the supply of jobs in these occupations is far too small, social and economic barriers to women attempting to enter such occupations continue to exist, and women who have been in their careers for many years find it difficult to shift to new occupations even when institutional barriers are removed.

Not only is the current system unjust to women, these advocates argue, but it also imposes significant costs on society. For instance, the knowledge that these wage discrepancies exist can lead to resentment, poorer job performance, and tension and conflict between the sexes. In addition, say comparable worth advocates, these wage discrepancies result in several unfortunate consequences for both the workers and society.

For one thing, many men and women motivated by high salary potential rather than genuine interest or aptitude now enter professions for which they are ill-suited. Such misplaced incentives frequently lead to job dissatisfaction and poor job performance. Furthermore, depressed wages in fields such as child care and elementary education lead to less qualified people entering these jobs, and to personnel shortages in fields that are essential to our society's future.

Comparable worth advocates point to other social costs which they attribute to the pay inequities of the current wage system. They argue that many women unable to support themselves and their families on prevailing wage scales are forced to accept public assistance.

Inequitable wages, they maintain, like environmental pollution, cost society millions of dollars and are mostly financed by higher taxes. To achieve a fairer treatment of female workers, more efficiently manage our human resources, and reduce the social costs of the current system, the supporters of comparable worth argue that the wages for workers in underpaid "women's jobs" must be brought up to the levels of wages in comparable "men's jobs," based on objective measures of the value of the jobs and the skills they require.

Opponents of comparable worth dispute the claim that the current wage system is unfair. Statistics for comparable worth Look-up Popularity. Style: MLA. Legal Definition of comparable worth. More from Merriam-Webster on comparable worth Britannica.

Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Test your vocabulary with our question quiz! Love words? Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Jone Johnson Lewis. Women's History Writer. Jone Johnson Lewis is a women's history writer who has been involved with the women's movement since the late s. She is a former faculty member of the Humanist Institute.

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