The movement for comparable worth policies has been an ongoing issue since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law in 1963. Ongoing because unionized workers and modern feminists claimed then – and continue to claim to this day – that the legislation is not enough. The concept that demands women and men should receive equal pay for equal work (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. 1986) notes only jobs of comparable skill and responsibility are to be acted upon. On the face of it and perhaps on a bumper sticker, the ethic sounds unassailable. However, when differences such as education, full or part-time status, experience, number of children, or consecutive years in the workforce is taken into account, the disparity vanishes.

            The question of how much less do equally qualified women earn than men is perplexing, because political pundits and economists are at odds over how to do the math. No academic study says that equally qualified women make only seventy-four cents on a man’s dollar. Contrarily, reports speak to wages adjusted for experience and education; and when that is in the equation, economists such as Columbia's Jane Waldfogel, Baruch College's June O'Neill, the University of Michigan's Charles Brown, and the New York Federal Reserve's Erica Groshen, find the average pay gap decreases to pennies on the dollar. After all, how can a man or women with a B.A. in Math possibly be compared to a person with a B.A. in English?  With no regard to education or type of work, one may as well equate secretaries to loggers, bookkeepers with mine drillers, and Senate legislators with people who have to meet a payroll (Comparable Worth Policies Are Not Beneficial to Women. Furchtgott, Diana, Journal: Opposing Viewpoints: Work, 2005).  

            The premise behind comparable worth paycheck fairness is that female-dominated jobs are paid less than male-dominated jobs only because they are in female-dominated industries. Those same advocates would argue that government action is needed to eliminate the inequities caused by historical and ongoing sexual discrimination. From the perspective high upon an ivory tower, the comparable worth proponents think that businesses do not pay employees in these “female-dominated” industries what they are actually worth and that experts appointed by law must tell the people responsible for meeting the payroll what “worth” actually means. Former Socialist Chairman Mao could not have said it better himself. Proof that legislating morality does not work exists in real-world government applications of comparable worth. In Minnesota, nursing job shortages happened after passage of this legislation because many evaluation systems determined that nurses were paid more than they were “worth.” Professional nurse shortages already existed at the time but the problem was exacerbated because, in a true supply and demand economy, this situation would decry a need to increase wages. Therefore, as a direct result of government intervention, nurses left the state and the existing need for more nurses only grew more acute (Comparable Worth Policies Do Not Promote Social Justice. Journal: Opposing Viewpoints: Social Justice. Thacker, Rebecca A. and Hall, Joshua, 2005).

            Despite the fabulous gains made by women under our free enterprise system, politicians continue to re-introduce comparable worth legislation. In an effort to fix a problem that does not exist, political ineptitude will not only fail to accomplish the liberal-minded agenda of equal pay for equal work, it may very well cost everyone more than its stated worth. The stickers upon one’s automobile may reflect an admirable ethic but the practical application is elusive and un-workable in a free market system.  After all, why else would Red China still hate the United States?

References

1.                  Comparable Worth Policies Are Not Beneficial to Women, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Greenhaven Press Journal: Opposing viewpoints: Work, 2002.

2. Comparable Worth Policies Do Not Promote Social Justice, Rebecca A. Thatcher

& Joshua C. Hall, Greenhaven Press Journal: Opposing Viewpoints: Social       Justice, 2005.

3.                  “Comparable worth”, Meriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law, 1996. Retrieved April 26, 2008 from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/5174194comparable worth.