Women in the Work Force: Pay Equity. Hearing Before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States,.Ninety-Eighth Congress, Second Session
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 250' 580 CE 040 184 TITLE Women in the Work Force: Pay Equity. Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States,.Ninety-Eighth Congress, Second Session. INSTITUTION- Joint Economic Committee, Washington, D.C. REPORT NO S,-Hrg.-98-1050 PUB DATE 10 Apr 84 NOTE 214p.; Document contains small, light type. PUB TYPE Legal/LegislatiVe/Regulatory Materials (090) -- Viewpoints (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adults; *Employed Women; Hearings; *Salary Wage Differentials; *Sex Discrimination; *Sex Fairness :BSTRACT In this congressional hearing on women in the labor force, is on the problems of wage discrimination and specific means of eradicating this injustice. Testimony includes statements and submissions for the record (prepared statements and reports) from United States Senators and from individuals representing the Committee on Women's Employment and Related Social Issues, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences; American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; E.R. Clarke Associates, Inc.; and the National Committee on Pay Equity. (YLB) ** A*,,***************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from tho original document. * *********************************************************************** S.HRG.98-1050 WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE: PAY EQUITY HEARING BEFORE THE JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES NINETY-EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 10, 1984 Printed for the use of the Joint Economic Committee U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE E UCATIONAL OF EDUCATION RESOURCES INFORMA TION CENTER IERIC1 This document has been reproduced as receivod fromthe person originating it or organization Minor changes have been made reproduction to improve quality Points ofview or opinions mint do not ritrcOStrdttlystated in this (foci: represent officialNIE Position or poll(y U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTINO OFFICE WASHINGTON :1984 JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE (Created pursuant to sec. 5(a) of Public Law 304, 79th Congress) SENATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ROGER W. JEPSEN, Iowa, Chairman LEE H. HAMILTON, Indiana, WILLIAM y. ROTH, JR., Delaware Vice Chairman JAMES ABDNOR, South Dakota GILLIS W. LONG, Louisiana STEVEN D. SYMMS, Idaho PARREN J. MITCHELL, Maryland MACK M/ATTINGLY, Georgia AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS, California ALFONSE M. D'AMATO, New York DAVID R. OBEY, Wisconsin LLOYD BENTSEN, Texas JAMES H. SCHEUER, New York WILLIAM PROXMIRE, Wisconsin CHALMERS P. WYLIE, Ohio EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts MARJORIE S. HOLT, Maryland PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine CHARLES H. BRADFORD,Acting Executive Director JAMESK.GALBRAITH.Deputy Director 4/ CONTENTS WITNESSES AND STATEMENTS TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1984 Page Snowe, Hon. Olympia J., member of the Joint EconomicCommittee, presid- ing: Opening statement 1 Hartmann, Heidi, Study Director, Committee onWomen's Employment and Related Social Issues, National Research Council,National Academy of 2 Science" Evans, Hon. Daniel J., a U.S. Senator from the State ofWashington 17 Newman, Winn, counsel, Winn Newman Law Offices,accompanied by Lisa Newell, associate counsel, on behalf of the AmericanFederation of State, County and Municipal Employees [AFSCME] 22 Lindsay, Cotton Mather, professor of economics, EmoryUniversity, Atlanta, 78 GA Killingsworth, Mark R., professor of economics,Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 84 Clarke, Edwin R., president, E.R. Clarke Associates,Inc., Lake Forest, IL ...... 128 Turner, Brian, director of legislation and economicpolicy, Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO, on behalf of the NationalCommittee on Pay Equity, accompanied by Carole Wilson, treasurer, NationalCommittee on Pay Equity 136 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1984 Hartmann, Heidi: The conclusions of the report entitled"Women, Work, and Wages: Equal Pay for Jobs of Equal Value," by the Committee onWomen's Employment and Related Social Issues, 1981 9 Jepsen. Hon. Roger W.: Written' opening statement. 207 Killingsworth, Mark R.: Prepared statement 89 Newman, Winn, et al,: Prepared statement, together withadditional material 28 Turner, Brian, and Carole Wilson: Joint prepared statement,together with attachments 143 (IU) WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE: PAY EQUITY TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1984. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE Washington, DC. The comm_ttee met, pursuant to notice, at 9 a.m., in room 2203, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Olympia J. Snowe (member of the committee) presiding. Present: Representative Snowe. Also present: Deborah Clay-Mendez and Mary E. Eccles, profes- sional staff members; and Lesley Primmer, legislative assistant to Representative Snowe. OPENING STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE SNOWE, PRESIDING Representative SArOWE. I welcome you to the third hearing in a four-part series before the Joint Economic Committee on women in the labor force. This series began last November with an examina- tion of the special analysis, "American Women: Three Decades of Change," .prepared by the Census Bureau. Although the report's title underscores the dramatic change in women's lives since 1950, today's hearing will focus on one area where tragically little. has progressed. Today, as 30 years ago, working women earn less than two-thirds the wages of working men. The first two hearings examined the .gro4rig proportion' of women and children hi poverty, the difficulty women have in find- ing affordable child care that would allow them to work, and the lack of incentives for women to move from welfare to low-paying, traditionally female jobs, foregoing the security of, among other things, medical care for their children. And throughout these hear- ings one thing has been clear: The common theme that dominates women's labor force participation is the earnings gap between men and women. Today's hearing will address the problems of wage discrimination and examine specific means of eradicating this injustice. Wage dis- criminatioh exists in many forms. For example: The Census Bureau citedstudy done in 1981 that looked at 91 occupations where there were enough men and women to compare earnings. In each of the 91 occupations, women's median earnings were below those of men. Even in traditionally female occupations, like cashiers and food service workers, women's wages were lower; In Washington State, the AFSCME case which we will hear about in more detail today, found significant disparities in closely related, but segregated, jobs such as barber and beautician; and (1) 2 The 'most widespread wage discrimination exists in those low- paying,' dead-end jobs where the majority ofwomen remain segre- gated. The National Academy of Sciences summarized the problem this way in their 1981 report: "Themore an occupation is dominat- ed by women, the less it pays." The causes of the wage gap and occupational segregationare the subject of heated debate among some economists. Aconsensus on the direction public policy need take is similarly lacking. Theeco- nomic implications for women's lives, however,are clear. American women will not secure tr,.e economic equity until they are guaran- teed a fair wage for the work they do. Freedom from d,scrimina- tion in employment is the law of the land, and the lack ofpay equity for the women of this country is the most urgent problem facing women in the labor force. I am pleased to have a number of the leading spokespersonson the question of women and wages here today, and I want to thank each of you for participating in this hearing. Iam particularly hon- ored to welcome Senator Dan Evans, whoas Governor of Washing- ton in 1974, commissioned the first study of comparable worth in the country. Senator Evans has continued toserve as one of the primary advocates of pay equity in the U.S. Senate. Heidi Hartmann,, the coeditor of the National Academy of Sci- ences landmark report on "Women, Work, anWages," and cur- rently the study director of the Committeeon Women's Employ- ment and Related Social Issues at the Academy is withus today as well. I am also pleased to have two other leading economists here today, Cotton Mather Lindsay and Mark Killingsworth, who have examined the implications of variousmeans of implementing pay equity for the economy. And finally, I want to welcome two leaders in the rapidly growing effort to eliminate sex-basedwage discrimi- nation: Winn Newman, who litigated the Washington Statepay equity case for AFSCME, and Brian Turner, the director of legisla- tion and economic policy for the industrial union of the AFL-CIO, who will be representing the National Committeeon Pay Equity. We will hear first from Ms. Hartmann. STATEMENT OF HEIDI HARTMANN, STUDY DIRECTOR, COMMIT- 'TEE ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT AND RELATED SOCIAL ISSUES, NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Ms. HARTMANN. I am Heidi Hartmann, study director of the Committee on Women's Employment and Related Social Issues, within the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Edu- cation, one of eight major divisibris of the National Research Coun- cil. The National Research Council is the prinCipal operatingarm of the National Academy. of Sciences/National Academy of Engi- neering. In accordance with the Academy's congressional charter, enacted in 1863, the National Research Council responds tore- quests from executive branch agencies and the Congress for advice on scientific and technical questions,