Does the Gender Wage Gap Exist at Riverside Community College District?
| Author | Brown, Jami |
| Position | Forum on Public Policy |
The gender wage gap in the United States is a well-documented social and economic phenomenon. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 has done little to bring parity between men's and women's wages. Existing data show a relationship between race, age, geography, immigration, education, and women's pay status. This study analyzes wage disparity within higher education, specifically among the faculty at Riverside City College in Riverside, California. A transparent hiring process and salary schedule have reduced the gender wage gap to 1% at Riverside City College, compared to the 6-14% reported national average among faculty in higher education. Even though the gender wage gap is small, gender discrimination and gender bias are evident when the number of women in positions of authority is examined. Another indicator of gender inequity at Riverside City College is the high percentage of men teaching in STEM disciplines compared to women teaching in those disciplines.
History and Literature Review: The Economic Status of Women in the United States
Gender equality remains a social issue in the United States, even though women have gained ground toward equity. Organized women's groups rallied in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention to spotlight the unequal treatment of women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott drafted a Declaration of Sentiments that began with a preamble fashioned after the U.S. Declaration of Independence--"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.. (Stanton, Anthony, and Gage, 1887). This document inspired the suffrage movement in the United States, which culminated with the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution being signed into law on August 26, 1920. Granting women suffrage mollified them for a time. But history illustrates that women's equal status with men in the United States was still a long way off (National Equal Pay Task Force, The White House, June 2013).
By 1941, due to the scarcity of labor caused by World War II, women were taking jobs previously held by men. Women entering the workforce was essential to the U.S. economy and the war effort. At this point, the question of equal pay for women was once again raised since women were filling positions formerly held by men. In order to reduce the wages paid to women, employers were quick to reclassify positions formerly designated as "male positions" to "female positions" (Massachusetts AFL-CIO). After the war, those jobs were again reclassified to "male positions" at a higher wage rate upon the return of the male veterans.
Women's restlessness with second class citizenship grew over the decade of the 1950s and erupted into a full-fledged social movement during the 1960s (Friedan, 1963). Equal pay for equal work became one of many social issues women took up to gain equal status with men (Billitteri, 2008; Deckard, 1979). Political and social pressure notwithstanding, John Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act on June 10, 1963, guaranteeing equal pay for women:
No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions." (Equal Pay Act, 1963).
The passage of this act of Congress begs the question: Why does a gender based wage gap still exist in 2015?
Social scientists have grappled with the gender wage gap question and offer a myriad of theories. One theory suggests that women choose lower paying jobs. "Decisions about field of study, occupation and time in the work force can lead to lower compensation ..." (Johnson, 2013).
Predominantly male jobs, particularly at the higher educated level, tend to pay much more than the female dominated jobs," says Hegewisch, of the Institute for Women's Policy Research. "I think the solution to this is not just to say, "OK, all women should become engineers now. It's also how we can more equitably fund and pay for the jobs that are done primarily by women. We do need librarians and teachers and psychologists and social workers. So it's not just saying women are wrong to go in for those jobs. Neither is there evidence that as soon as men move in, the wages will go up (Johnson, 2013).
Moreover, "Plenty of evidence suggests that women encounter systemic barriers on their way up the career ladder--and that they also may impose career limits on themselves, sometimes for the sake of juggling family and professional responsibilities" (Johnson, 2013).
Research suggests that some of the gender pay gap can be attributed to choice of occupations by women. Women are more likely than men to go into occupations that will allow them to work part time, and typically part time occupations don't pay as well (Billitteri, 2008). Warren Farrell, who in the 1970s served on the board of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, argues that women pay an economic price by seeking careers that are more fulfilling, flexible and safe. With a stated goal of helping women gain higher pay, Farrell advises women to work longer hours, be willing...
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