A Fair Wage

Income for most people is determined by the market value of the productive resources they sell. What workers earn depends, primarily, on the market value of what they produce and how productive they are.

Income for most people is determined by the market value of the productive resources they sell. What workers earn depends, primarily, on the market value of what they produce and how productive they are.

Upon completion of this lesson the student will:

• Recognize that wages and salaries, determined by the supply of and demand for labor, are impacted by discrimination.
• Collect and review data to determine if there is substantial evidence that women earn significantly lower pay than men for work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
• Evaluate proposed solutions for gender discrimination in the workplace.
• Form an opinion on the issue of fair pay and defend it with empirical evidence.

[NOTE: Students will be introduced to gender discrimination in the workplace, they will collect and review data to substantiate or refute the existence of gender discrimination, and they will evaluate proposed solutions to this type of discrimination. Think About It: questions follow each section. These questions can be used to lead class discussion, as a guide for group work, or as an evaluative tool if this is an individually assigned lesson. A culminating activity requires students to formulate and express their opinion on this issue and consider the relevance of other arguments.]

Did you know that:

• In 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act prohibiting employers from paying women less than men for the same job? [NOTE: Students can read the https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm ] But the reality is that while the Equal Pay Act prohibited discrimination against women in terms of wages, substantial pay disparities continue to exist.

In this lesson students will examine several resources that address gender equity to determine if these disparities in pay for men and women are indeed discrimination or if they are justified. At the end of this lesson students will be asked to form and justify opinions.

• Recognize that wages and salaries, determined by the supply of and demand for labor, are impacted by discrimination.
• Collect and review data to determine if there is substantial evidence that women earn significantly lower pay than men for work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
• Evaluate proposed solutions for gender discrimination in the workplace.
• Form an opinion on the issue of fair pay and defend it with empirical evidence.

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963: Students can read it here
  https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm
• https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm Infographic on Equal Pay from the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau
• Fair Wage: A worksheet for students regarding fair wages for men and women.
  www.preview1.econedlink.org/lessons/docs_lessons/203_A_Fair_Wage_Worksheet1.pdf
• https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat39.htm information on median weekly earnings for men and women

The issue: Are wages in the modern workplace “fair”?

Show students the Equal Pay infographic form the Depart of Labor’s Women’s Bureau.

Think About It:

1. On average a woman makes $.78 on a man’s $1.00. Do you think this is fair? Why?
   [Answers will vary.]
2. Why do women traditionally have different work histories than men?
   [Through discussion or written answers the student should recognize cultural customs and social constraints as influencing a woman’s work history. Primarily, the traditional view during the last two centuries in the United States that the woman serves as the primarily care giver for children and elderly relatives, as well as having the majority of responsibilities within the household. These responsibilities have historically limited a woman’s time in the work force and restricted the years of service available to a woman in the workforce.]
3. Why do women traditionally choose different careers than men?
   [Through discussion or written answers students should reveal their knowledge of the role cultural customs and social constraints have played in the types of careers woman have chosen.]

Is there evidence that women and men are paid differently?

Here’s some data to review:

Watch this clip from Hillary Clinton’s speech on the Gender Wage Gap on Equal Pay Day 2016 and read the article about her speech from Time magazine.

Use this .pdf on the Gender Wage Gap (Presented by the National Committe on Pay Equity, statistics from Department of Labor) to collect information on mean weekly and annual earnings for men and women. Complete the tables in your worksheet by gathering information on three occupations. Choose one occupation that you think of as a “man’s job,” a second occupation that you think of as a “woman’s job,” and a third occupation that is not one that is traditionally male or female, a job you consider “gender neutral.”

Note: Students will have to calculate the annual earning figures from the weekly figures given. Simply have them multiply the weekly amount by 52 (52 weeks in a year) to get a rough estimate in order to complete the worksheet.

[NOTE: Students should be encouraged and given the opportunity to develop thoughtful answers to the following THINK ABOUT IT questions. This may be in the form of small group or class discussion or through an out-of-class written assignment.]

Think About It:

1. Do the data in the “10 Leading Occupations for Women” table support or refute the existence of gender discrimination in the workplace?
   [The data in the table does illustrate less pay for each occupation for women as compared to men. This however, does not clearly indicate discrimination. These median calculations may reflect different numbers of men and woman in each occupation, different education levels, or different pay schedules due to differences in standards of living in different regions of the United States.]
2. Does your research on the three occupations support or refute the existence of gender discrimination in the workplace?
   [Students should be encouraged to critically analyze the data they collected. Enforce the importance of controlling all variables other than gender. If students didn’t use the same age and education levels for comparison share with them the additional explanations for the pay differentials they found.]

[NOTE: At this point students should have formed some strong opinions about the existence, or nonexistence, of gender discrimination in the workplace. Encourage open discussion from both viewpoints.]

Think About It:

1. In your opinion, does gender discrimination exist in the workplace? Why do you believe this?
   [There is no right or wrong answer for this question . Encourage students to demonstrate use of the material covered during the lesson.]
2. In your opinion, should the government become more involved in pay check equality issues in the workplace? Why or why not?
   [There is no right or wrong answer for this question . Encourage students to demonstrate use of the material covered during the lesson.]