Theories on Wage Discrimination and Occupational Segregation
Substantial research has been conducted proving that occupationalsegregation and wage discrimination still exist in today's society.Despite recent gains by women and minorities in the field of employment,other factors aside (such as skills, qualifications and education) womenand minorities still fall behind men when considering pay and occupationalchoices. The consequences of such actions are that women are oftenconcentrated in clerical and service jobs which overall result in less payand opportunities for advancement. Blau, Ferber and Winkler (2001) pointout that even though an almost equivalent number of men and women work inprofessional positions, men are still more likely to be concentrated inlucrative professions including law, medicine and engineering, whereaswomen are segregated into lower paying positions including teaching and Several different theories lend credence and explanation tooccupational segregation and wage discrimination forces. Some are moresupply sided in nature while others depend more on institutionalizedpractices. Human and capital theory for example suggest that womengenerally anticipate "shorter and less continuous work lives than men" an
Marxian and institutionalist economists are more similar in natureand thus the two are compared together. Some of theirchoices might be related to their preference for working fewer hours thanmen. Neoclassical theory suggests that discrimination can be costly undercertain circumstances, and thus employers are discouraged fromdiscriminating against women. INSTITUTIONALIST/MARXIST THEORIES Blau, Ferber and Winkler (2001) suggest that occupational or labordiscrimination occurs when "two equally qualified individuals are treateddifferently solely on the bases of their gender" (p. This is not a result of individualized discrimination, but rather aresult of historical practices that have become the standard rather thanthe exception to the rule. England (1984) performed a study of occupational segregationgenerating from the neoclassical theory of human capital. Opposing this viewpointis the institutional theory of discrimination which suggests thatinstitutions in society have "rules and regulations that arediscriminatory" even if individuals at those institutions personally do notdiscriminate (Giampetro-Meyer, 2000:1). This can be attributed to institutional factors. Women make decisions that result in higher income early on,whereas men opt for positions that will have the potential for higherincome later in their careers (England, 1984:726). Thus a firm might expect to pay women less for performing the same job. One cannothappen without affecting the other. Hefurther argues that men and women choose positions that for financialreasons. Neoclassical or supply sided theories might undermine the importance of theinfluence the labor market has on the roles and personal decisions womenmake related to their careers. Thestudies that will be most closely examined in this paper include theoriesalong this line including neoclassical theory and theories opposing thisviewpoint including the Institutionalist or Marxist idealisms related toeconomic theory. One the same note women's andmen's personal choices and preferences may also reinforce cultural andinstitutional norms.
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