Pay Equity

What can be done to close the gap between the earnings of women and

men? In the 1980s, pay equity—also known as comparable worth – has

emerged as a controversial solution in the effort to alleviate the second-

class status of women within the paid labor force of the United States.

Pay equity calls for equal pay for different types of work judged to be

comparable through measurement of such factors as employee knowled-

ge, skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. Pay equity goes

beyond the idea of “equal pay for equal work” by encouraging equal pay

for different (but comparable) work.

Theoretically, this doctrine sounds straightforward, but it is not so

simple to effect. How exactly does one compare jobs in order to deter-

mine standards of equtable pay? Should a zookeeper be paid more than

a child care worker? Does our society pay zookeepers more because we

value caretaking for animals more than caretaking for children? Or do

zookeepers earn more than child care workers because the former tend

to be male while the latter are generally female?

Women’s work is undervalued and underpaid in American society.

From a conflict perspective, women earn low wages because they labor

within a tradition that treats them as temporary and supplementary wor-

kers, devalues women’s work, and views low wages as sufficient for female

workers. Efforts to address the issue of wage discrimination have resulted

in legislation and increased public awareness, yet women’s salaries remain

far lower than those of men. The federal Equal Pay Act of 1963, which

mandates equal pay for equal work, applies to a relatively small proportion

of female workers: those who perform the same job under the same roof as

male coworkers. Although these women’s wages have increased as a result

of the Equal Pay Act, most female workers remain segregated in a few

occupations in which there are no male workers doing the same jobs with

whom these underpaid women might compare themselves.

In some instances, pay inequity is difficult to defend. For example, in

Arlington County, Virginia, entry-level gardeners working for the county

must have a high school diploma and one year’s experience before be-

ing hired. They earn $13,927 per year to start. By contrast, the posi-

tion of entry-level Library Assistant I requires two years of college or

two years of library experience, yet the pay is only $12,598 per year. Of

the entry-level librarians, 93.4 percent are female, while 87.5 percent of

the gardeners are male. Such data are cited by advocates of comparable

worth, who insist that we need a more equitable way of evaluating jobs to

determine their value.

Although sex discrimination is one obvious explanation for the lack

of pay equity, other explanations are possible. Employers commonly cite

the influence of labor market supply and demand on wages in various

occupations. ‘You can’t measure productivity of jobs or the intrinsic

worth of a job,’ argues Owen Johnson of Continental Bank. ‘Women are

disproportionately found in relatively few jobs in our society, and there

is an oversupply of women in certain occupations. This oversupply typi-

cally results in low wages.’ Johnson’s comment appears questionable,

however, in view of a labor-market phenomenon evident in the nursing

profession. Thousands of nurses are leaving the field because of low pay;

yet, in response to this shortage, wages have not been increased. Instead,

a general reduction in nursing services has followed, and some institu-

tions have hired nurses from outside the United States who will accept

lower wages.

Thus far, the courts have generally been reluctant to address the is-

sue of pay equity. However, in late 1983, federal district court judge Jack

Tanner held that the state of Washington had violated the 1964 Civil

Rights Act through inequitable treatment of its female employees and

ordered the state to pay $838 million in raises and retroactive compensa-

tion to these women. This ruling was overturned in 1985, as an appeals

court determined that an employer can follow prevailing market wages

in setting salaries—even if these wages underpay women. In 1986, the

state decided to avoid further appeals by settling the case for $482 mil-

lion in damages. As part of the settlement, the worth of different jobs will

now be measured in terms of skill, training, education, responsibility,

and other factors.

In 1985, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights took up the issue of

comparable worth. By a vote of 5-2, the commissioners held that ‘com-

parable worth, as a theory of discrimination, or as a remedy for discrimi-

nation, is profoundly and irretrievably flawed.’ The chairman, Clarence

M. Pendleton, Jr., inflamed the controversy by stating that comparable

worth was the ‘looniest idea since Looney Tunes.’ Nevertheless, the ma-

jority of the Civil Rights Commission acknowledged that sex-based wage

discrimination is a serious matter. As a remedy, they called for strict en-

forcement of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and federal civil rights acts to

prohibit employment discrimination against women.

Many public employers, including the states of New York and New

Jersey, have developed voluntary plans to put pay equity policies into

effect. In a key development in 1985, the city of Los Angeles embraced

the idea of equal pay for city jobs ‘of comparable worth,’ a decision that

Mayor Tom Bradley called a ‘historic step.’ The city accepted a union

contract that gave 10 to 15 percent raises to 3900 clerks and librarians—

most of them women—to bring their salaries to the level of those of

maintenance workers, gardeners, and other city workers in male-domi-

nated classifications. Mayor Bradley commented that, through the city’s

action, ‘we will send a message to all cities across this country’

The issue of pay equity is just beginning to gain pub attention. In a

2003 national survey, only one-fourth of respondents stated that they

had heard a ‘fair amount’ or a ‘great deal’ about pay equity or compa-

rable worth. Most Americans believe that women and men should be

paid equally for jobs of comparable worth. At the same time, two-thirds

of respondents in the survey agreed that it is too difficult—and therefore

unfair—to compare and evaluate jobs that are quite different (such as

secretary and electrician) to see if they deserve similar compensation. In

any event, the American people will surely be hearing much more about

this controversial concept. According to a survey released by the National

Committee on Pay Equity, more than 1500 local governments and school

districts in 24 states have taken steps to address the issue of pay equity.

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