ABSTRACT
Empirical research by labor economists as well as sociologists interested in wage discrimination has demonstrated that a significant portion of the gender-based wage gap can be attributed to occupational gender segregation. A wage penalty exists for male and female incumbents in traditionally female occupations, even after accounting for human capital and institutional variables (England 1992; Sorensen 1989a, 1989b, 1994; Treiman and Hartmann 1981). Feminist researchers have studied the processes that perpetuate and exacerbate this wage penalty, including biased job evaluation systems (Steinberg 1992; Wajcman 1991), socially designated conceptions of skill (Steinberg 1990), organizational characteristics (Acker 1990; Baron 1991; Buswell and Jenkins 1994; Anderson and Tomaskovic-Devey 1995), as well as the influence of market forces (Bridges and Nelson 1989). The relationship between wage inequality by gender and occupational segregation has been used to document the need for comparable worth policies designed to reduce the portion of the gender-based wage gap due to the undervaluation of female-dominated occupations (England 1992; Sorensen 1994; Treiman and Hartmann 1981). Pay equity or comparable worth has thus been viewed primarily as a strategy to address gender-based wage differentials. 1
