“Women continue to make less than men for the same work,” notes Tara Siegel Bernard in her interesting article in the New York Times of November 15 entitled “Vigilant Eye On Gender Pay Gap.”
What is particularly interesting is that while she examines the causes of gender pay disparity, she also reports on what some companies are doing — conducting “pay equity analyses … to analyze whether their women are paid on par with equivalent men, job by job, then devising plans to fill in any gaps.”
These analyses, which are “needed to tease out gender bias” are fairly complex and sophisticated.
She says that “For some employers, a big motivation for running pay analyses is still to avoid lawsuits,” but quotes one consultant who said that “Now, you are seeing companies — technology, consumer products, health care — do it to stay competitive, and they are doing it as part of an integrated strategy.”
Other than a simple cost saving measure, she writes that gender pay inequity may be a result of women being “less inclined” to ask for a raise, because “When they do, they are perceived as less likable and may be penalized;” the so-called “motherhood penalty;” and the fact that “women are less likely to work the longest hours or specific hours.”
Well worth the read.