The role of collective bargaining regulation in the sector-specific characterization of the gender pay gap

The gender pay gap has a long and well-documented history. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was passed in an attempt to combat this gap in wages between men and women, but as of 2019 women still on average earn less than 80% of what their male counterparts do. Countless factors contribute to this discrepancy, from gender norms to workplace culture to wage structure and so much more. Though there is a significant literature discussing the gender pay gap, the majority of it focuses on external barriers to equality, including but not limited to institutional inequality, social norms, and workplace discrimination. Fewer scholars have addressed the internalized barriers to equality in the workplace that women face—such as how gendered norms and expectations may affect workplace behaviors such as negotiating compensation packages. My project employs qualitative content coding and individual breakdown of semi-structured, in-depth interviews to investigate if, how, and why women’s approaches to negotiation may contribute to pay inequity in professional positions. My findings confirm a discrepancy in rates of negotiation between male and female respondents. They also suggest that divergences in the circumstances surrounding negotiations as well as in approaches to negotiation exist between men and women, and among workers with various levels of seniority. Finally, my findings in combination with existing literature suggest a link between negotiation and the gender pay gap.

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UNCTAD Insights: The role of multinational and trading enterprises in employment and the gender pay gap: Evidence from Finland

Transnational Corporations ◽

10.18356/2076099x-27-3-12 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 203-239

Author(s):

◽

Keyword(s):

Gender Pay Gap ◽

Pay Gap

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Overeducation and the gender pay gap in Italy

International Journal of Manpower ◽

10.1108/ijm-12-2016-0235 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (5) ◽

pp. 710-730 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carolina Castagnetti ◽

Luisa Rosti ◽

Marina Töpfer

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Gender Discrimination ◽

Female Employment ◽

Gender Pay Gap ◽

Data Set ◽

Pay Gap ◽

Endogeneity Bias ◽

Content Type ◽

Participation Bias

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the pivotal role of overeducation in explaining the unexplained part of the gender pay gap (GPG), i.e. the component usually attributed to gender discrimination in the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a large Italian data set (ISFOL PLUS 2005–2014) to estimate the GPG among properly educated and overeducated workers. The model simultaneously accounts for both participation bias and endogeneity bias by applying an extension of the Heckman’s two-stage procedure. Findings Estimates show that the GPG is significantly higher among overeducated than among properly educated workers because women’s unobservable characteristics driving female employment into overeducation also drag down female wages more than men’s unobservable characteristics drag down male wages. Correcting for the participation and overeducation decisions, the unexplained portion of the GPG disappears among overeducated workers, while it remains significant among properly educated individuals. Originality/value The authors draw the conclusion that overeducation is, first, a first-best matching for individuals (both men and women) compensating with more education for their lower productive characteristics. Second, it may be a signaling device for women spending their useless-for-the-job diploma to inform employers on their valuable though unobservable productive characteristics and fight gender wage discrimination. The results favor education as a tool of counteracting gender discrimination. Hence, as females are less overeducated than males despite their larger representation in higher education, there should not be concern that expanding higher education will disadvantage females.

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The gender pay gap in European executive boards: the role of executives’ pathway into the board

The International Journal of Human Resource Management ◽

10.1080/09585192.2019.1620307 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Martin R. Schneider ◽

Anja Iseke ◽

Kerstin Pull

Keyword(s):

Gender Pay Gap ◽

Pay Gap ◽

Executive Boards

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The changing face of employment relations: equality and diversity

Employee Relations ◽

10.1108/er-06-2015-0115 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 37 (6) ◽

pp. 705-719 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Sian Moore ◽

Stephanie Tailby

Keyword(s):

Public Sector ◽

Collective Bargaining ◽

Labour Market ◽

Minimum Wage ◽

Hourly Wage ◽

Gender Pay Gap ◽

Equal Pay ◽

Pay Gap ◽

Content Type ◽

The Uk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore what has happened to the notion and reality of equal pay over the past 50 years, a period in which women have become the majority of trade union members in the UK. It does so in the context of record employment levels based upon women’s increased labour market participation albeit reflecting their continued over-representation in part-time employment, locating the narrowed but persistent overall gender pay gap in the broader picture of pay inequality in the UK. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers voluntary and legal responses to inequality and the move away from voluntary solutions in the changed environment for unions. Following others it discusses the potential for collective bargaining to be harnessed to equality in work, a potential only partially realised by unions in a period in which their capacity to sustain collective bargaining was weakened. It looks at the introduction of a statutory route to collective bargaining in 2000, the National Minimum Wage from 1999 and at the Equality Act 2010 as legislative solutions to inequality and in terms of radical and liberal models of equality. Findings – The paper suggests that fuller employment based upon women’s increased labour market activity have not delivered an upward pressure on wages and has underpinned rather than closed pay gaps and social divisions. Legal measures have been limited in the extent to which they have secured equal pay and wider social equality, whilst state support for collective solutions to equality has waned. Its replacement by a statutory minimum wage initially closed pay gaps, but appears to have run out of steam as employers accommodate minimum hourly rates through the reorganisation of working time. Social implications – The paper suggests that statutory minima or even voluntary campaigns to lift hourly wage rates may cut across and even supersede wider existing collective bargaining agreements and as such they can reinforce the attack on collective bargaining structures, supporting arguments that this can reduce representation over pay, but also over a range of other issues at work (Ewing and Hendy, 2013), including equality. Originality/value – There are then limitations on a liberal model which is confined to promoting equality at an organisational level in a public sector subject to wider market forces. The fragmentation of bargaining and representation that has resulted will continue if the proposed dismantling of public services goes ahead and its impact upon equality is already suggested in the widening of the gender pay gap in the public sector in 2015.

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What slips through the cracks: The distance between regulations and practices shaping the gender pay gap

Economic and Industrial Democracy ◽

10.1177/0143831x20924457 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 0143831X2092445

Author(s):

Núria Sánchez-Mira ◽

Raquel Serrano Olivares ◽

Pilar Carrasquer Oto

Keyword(s):

Collective Bargaining ◽

Chemical Industry ◽

Financial Services ◽

Work Organization ◽

Managerial Discretion ◽

One Dimension ◽

Gender Inequalities ◽

Gender Pay Gap ◽

Pay Gap ◽

Managerial Practices

Studies have often examined the effects of one dimension of work organization (WO) on the gender pay gap (GPG) by considering single contexts. However, research has rarely addressed how different factors of WO intersect to shape the GPG across contexts. This article fills this gap in the literature by comparing the chemical industry and financial services sectors in Spain. The article analyses how WO is formalized in collective bargaining and how regulations translate in practice at the company level. While different configurations of intertwining inequalities emerge in each context analysed, managerial discretion is a common key feature contributing to the GPG. Gaps in regulation allow unilateral recruitment, promotion and pay practices. Simultaneously, managerial practices distort or circumvent regulation by abusing or misusing certain concepts. The distance between regulation and practice is embedded in gendered organizational cultures and institutional inertia leading to gender inequalities in pay.

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