Pay Equity (Comparable Worth)

Occupational segregation contributes to a wage gap the disparity between women’s and men’s earnings. It is calculated by dividing  omen’s earnings by men’s to yield a percentage, also known as the earnings ratio (Reskin and Padavic, 2002). Overall, women  make  approximately  80 cents for every dollar earned by men; however, this figure represents men and women who work  a 35-hour-  er-week job, and it does not compare men and women who work the same job. As shown in. Figure  11.1, women at aLl levels of   educational attainment receive Jess pay than do men with the same levels of education.  Across different categories of   employment. data continue to demonstrate this disparity, Moreover, the  wage gap is even greater for women of coLor. Although  white women in 2006 earned 80 percent as much as  while 68 percent and   atinas 58 percent of what white male  workers earned (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2oo7a).  The gap increases as a person’s  alary grows: Whereas 48  percent of people earning $20,000 to $25,000 per year.