Question

Your textbook explains the three major explanations for the continuing wage gap between men and women in the paid labor force: human capital theory, the dual labor market, and gender segregation.

In your discussion post, answer the following questions:

• Find an example of a successful effort to narrow the wage gap — either a government policy or a private company that addressed the issue with its own internal policies. Summarize the strategies or methods involved and the effects those strategies or methods produced.
• Could these same strategies or methods be effective across all areas of the labor force?
• What is one possible reason the wage gap has not narrowed across all jobs?

Answer 1

· Find an example of a successful effort to narrow the wage gap — either a government policy or a private company that addressed the issue with its own internal policies. Summarize the strategies or methods involved and the effects those strategies or methods produced.

ANSWER:

An example of a successful effort to narrow the wage gap is Canadian term pay equity and pay equality The two terms refer to distinctly separate legal concepts.

Pay equality, or equal pay for equal work, refers to the requirement that men and women be paid the same if performing the same job in the same organization.

For example, a female electrician must be paid the same as a male electrician in the same organization. Reasonable differences are permitted if due to seniority or merit.

Pay equality is required by law in each of Canada’s 14 legislative jurisdictions (ten provinces, three territories, and the federal government). Note that federal legislation applies only to those employers in certain federally regulated industries such as banks, broadcasters, and airlines, to name a few. For most employers, the relevant legislation is that of the respective province or territory.

In contrast, pay equity, in the Canadian context, means that male-dominated occupations and female-dominated occupations of comparable value must be paid the same if within the same employer. The Canadian term pay equity is referred to as "comparable worth" in the US.

For example, if an organization's nurses and electricians are deemed to have jobs of equal importance, they must be paid the same. One way of distinguishing the concepts is to note that pay equality addresses the rights of women employees as individuals, whereas pay equity addresses the rights of female-dominated occupations as groups.

Certain Canadian jurisdictions have pay equity legislation while others do not, hence the necessity of distinguishing between pay equity and pay equality in Canadian usage. For example, in Ontario, pay equality is guaranteed through the Ontario Employment Standards Actwhile pay equity is guaranteed through the Ontario Pay Equity Act.

· Could these same strategies or methods be effective across all areas of the labor force?

ANSWER:

Yes this method can be used effectively across all areas of the labor force as men and women are paid the same if performing the same job in the same organization which narrows the wage gap between man and woman.

· What is one possible reason the wage gap has not narrowed across all jobs?

ANSWER:

One possible reason the wage gap has not narrowed across all jobs is there are more men in senior roles than women.

One possible reason the wage gap has not narrowed across all jobs is there are more men in senior roles than women.

It’s true that as a whole there are more senior men than women in the workplace and as senior people tend to be paid more than junior people, this has a negative effect on the gender pay gap.

There is an assumption that senior jobs ‘naturally’ require long hours and constant availability, and so cannot be done flexibly or part-time. This is largely due to the 1950s pattern of men going out to work and women being at home to support them – enabling men to focus on work to the exclusion of everything else in life.

Long hours culture have been shown to be inherently gendered and to exacerbate the gender pay gap.