How Corporate America Is Betraying Women

CORPORATE AMERICA IS BETRAYING WOMEN

How Corporate America is Betraying Women

Goalee Xiong

Metropolitan State University

Abstract

Forty years ago, the Civil Rights Act made discrimination on the basis of sex illegal, studies show that women, practically across all job categories, are still paid less for doing the very same job as men. The threat of a sex-discrimination case has become one of corporate America's worst nightmare and many experts expect the number of suits to increase dramatically; especially since the changes in civil rights legislation enacted in 1991 has made it easier for women to file sex discrimination charges. According to Hilary Lips, a Radford University psychology professor who has studied the pay gap found that only jobs that pay $25,000 to $30,000 a year do men and women earn approximately the same. However, the further up the pay scale and the higher the education, the wider the pay gap. Lips say that there is no other explanation; except that people think what men do is more important and more valuable than what women do.

How Corporate America is Betraying Women

Forty years ago, women's biggest struggle was simply to get access to the workplace, but that has changed when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, and sex. From this the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) arose and it required that any company with 100 or more employees file annual accounts of how many are women and minorities it had within all levels of the organization. Even so, female employees that brought up a $72.5 million class-action lawsuit had asserted that the company paid them less than men and they did not get promoted as quickly as men. These women are bringing these cases and are winning because the evidence is overwhelming on their side.

In 1971, according to the New York Times, EECO looked into the automakers, oil companies, and AT & T to find out that only 1% of all, but the lowliest supervisory jobs were held by women, even though the company ran on an army of female telephone operators. According to the charges in Ellis vs. Costco, women make up half the workforce, but only hold one in six of the richly paying top management jobs. "Maybe women just don't work as hard." reasoned a dad of a top female financial services executive who has appeared on FORTUNE's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business. Nevertheless, research shows that women, including women with children are as hard working and ambitious as men. They believe that they needed to outperform expectations, take on complicated assignments, and work long hours as well as weekend to get ahead, just like men.

There are some things that companies can do to prevent sex-discrimination lawsuits. According to one defense lawyer, be much more formal in setting up systems for selection and promotion and also clearly define the required qualifications. Always post up job announcement for all to see. You must be able and prepare to justify your selection either for new hire or for promotion; meaning that you must have a good explanation when pay and promotion don't look appropriate.

A company must be consistent in their pay for both entry-level and raises.