Comparable Worth Making a Comeback

In follow-up to the post on gender pay equity earlier this week, I wanted to share additional information on the issue of pay equity.  Ryan Johnson's blog on the WorldatWork website (sorry, only appears to be available to members, but wanted to give proper attribution, and thanks to Frank Giancola for pointing me to this) alerts us to the fact that "comparable worth", a topic - as Ryan says - has been with us for a long time but was especially hot during the late 1970's and early 1980's, appears to be making a comeback. 

At its essence, the notion of comparable worth is that men and women who perform similar work should receive similar wages. It's difficult to argue with the logic of this; the issue, I believe, is how best to frame and address gender-based differences in pay.  For additional background on comparable worth, there is a very informative entry in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Hilary Clinton (D-NY) have introduced separate bills that once again push forward the notion of comparable worth.  Senator Harkin's bill, Download S_1087.pdf  is titled the "Fair Pay Act of 2007".  Senator Clinton's bill, Download S_766.pdf is titled the "Paycheck Fairness Act".

I haven't had opportunity to review the bills, or the essence of subsequent discussions at the capital, but I think it will be an interesting and important issue to follow - and I intend to do so.

Comments

[http://almostgotit.wordpress.com]

Great post! What is most distubing about the latest data in pay inequity, of course, is that shows that the gap (and the size of that gap is irrelevent, in my opinion) begins immediately upon college graduation. In other words, it is not due to women's choices, e.g. childbearing. And women's choices were being penalized enough, already. I don't know what the answer is, either, but I appreciate every bit of effort you and others are making by bringing it back to our attention.