Pay Equity Solutions - Essay Example

Pay Equity Solutions This paper aims to provide solutions for wage gap and pay equity of women in the workforce. The discussion is built through analyzing the past and current examples of implementing successful pay equity laws among which the most significant example is of Ontario in Canada. In addition to this research analyses of different authors related to the subject are also mentioned. Finally, some potential solutions are given in order to eliminate wage gap form Canadian women workforce. Pay Equity Solutions In the past few years, significant change is seen in the percentage of women workforce in the corporate world and labor market. In 1961 only 29% women were participating in the work field, however, within the time span of 35 years, this percentage has increased to 60%. In 1990’s women were seen especially concerned about their education and future career for which they even postponed childbearing until they do not attain a specific workforce position. This attitude was quite different from earlier generations where women used to be more concerned about their families and household matters. Additionally, women were also observed to have fewer children so that they do not require looking after them since children could prove to be a hindrance in their way of success. All of these factors led to substantial changes in the Canadian family system where men were no more considered as the only ‘breadwinner’ nor women were categorized as the ‘caregiver’ for the whole family. Subsequently, women pay became an essential part of family earnings which contributed a lot to the overall lifestyle development of Canadian families. In addition to this Canadian women have persistently increased their productivity level and skill development in almost all the men dominating fields. Women were found to be significantly more committed to their work while having great experience in their particular fields. All these attributes made the Canadian women a leading figure of the labor market. However, despite all their efforts, commitments and participation they could not get out of the persistent wage gap between men and women. There are huge wage differences between the two genders which have led the whole society towards introducing pay equity with the help of federal government. In 1967 the wage gap between men and women was 58.4% which increased to 72.5% by the end of 1997 [Dro]. The wage gap is even wider when it comes to nationality, looks, skills and learning ability, color, religion, caste, the social and marital status of women. Pay equity revolves around the concept of equal payments to equivalent job tasks irrespective of the worker’s gender. Women have a right to be paid equally as men on the basis of the skills and knowledge. It is one of the basic women rights which are protected by the Constitution. Equality Provision is mentioned in the 15th section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom [Pat04]. Additionally, the Canadian Human Rights Act strictly forbids the discrimination in wages on the basis of gender. The law is applicable to all the employees working in the public or private businesses sector. Some Canadian provinces such as Manitoba and Ontario have their specific laws regarding pay equity which is applied within the provincial jurisdiction to all the private and public sector employees. However, despite all the laws, rules and regulations pay equity is a major problem for Canadian women since it is hardly accessible and very few women are able to avail its advantages [Pat04]. Employees of some of the most reputable organizations such as Bell Canada, Canada Post, Telus and Air Canada have been striving hard to gain pay equity since years yet they haven’t met success [And06]. This calls for an immediate action in order to extend protection to the female employees and also to restore their fundamental human rights. In this regard, we have some successful applications of pay equity legislation such as the one applied in Ontario[And06]. In Canadian province; Ontario, flourishing equity pay regulations have been implemented which focused on following three laws [Sus091]: The Equal Pay Provision in the Employment Standards Act. The Human Rights Code which aims to reduce general discrimination faced by female employees on the basis of gender including sexual harassment. The Pay Equity Act which deals with pay issues related to gender discrimination. Overall the Act has focused on equal pay for equal job tasks in addition to this it has shown flexibility towards cross comparisons especially in situations where the comparison with male employees is not possible. The Act gives the advantage to the employees for recognizing their wage gaps and then to develop their personal pay equity strategies in order to minimize those gaps and reduce gender based discriminations. There is also a significant focus on the equal treatment of the employees working on different levels and organizational hierarchies as all the employees require equivalent respect irrespective of their race, caste, religion, nationality, color, and gender [Par]. McDermott has agreeably summarized the capacity and effectiveness of Ontario’s Pay Equity Legislation by mentioning that perhaps this is the most extensive pay equity legislation in the world despite the fact that it did not prove to be much effective in reducing wage gap to a significant level. She has further analyzed the two distinctive features of the legislation that it is not a complaint driven but a proactive model, additionally it has the high commitment towards readdressing the pay equity on the basis of gender [Pat]. According to McDermott job categories and job, evaluations can be used so as to remove the wage gap on account of gender. She has explained this through the example of Health Care workers, where some important members of the women union undertook a deep analysis of the overall wage gap existing in the public sector organization. The analysis was done using the job categories and job evaluations with the help of statistical tools and techniques. They concluded that there was not only wage discrimination but also employment discrimination, women were not given the men related jobs which they could have easily done and the job categories of females were significantly lower than all the male job categories. This ultimately led to widening the wage gap and complete absence of pay equity. The study indicates that analysis of job categories and job evaluations can be used so as to identify the wage gap existing in an organization which is an initial step in order to solve the issue of women wage gap [Pat]. Lesley A. Jacobs has emphasized the need for employment equity and pay equity so that men and women are not discriminated on the basis of work opportunities. Additionally, she has also focused on the work-based policies and home-based policies which indicate that equality should be maintained not only at the family level but also at the level of individual equity in a home. She says that women employment is strongly affected by the burden of childcare and also the domestic labor which actually reduces women efficiency at work and categorizes them as low wage workers. Therefore in order to reduce the wage gap, it is significant to eliminate the factors which affect the performance of women employees. This could be done through effective legislation [Les]. The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act was passed in 2009 in response to the wage gap prevailing in the Canadian Society. However, this Act has made even more difficult to resolve this issue since it has replaced the term ‘pay equity’ with ‘Equitable Compensation’ which has narrowed the concept of pay equity as equitable compensation is no way a substitute for pay equity neither it is capable enough to fulfill its demands. It has also put into account the influence of ‘market forces’ on the evaluation criteria of women workforce in spite of the fact that pay inequity is actually generated by these market forces [Sus091]. The successful implementation of Pay Equity Regulations in Ontario compels all the other provinces to establish similar laws in their respective area while on the other hand, the Canadian Government must work upon the set example of Ontario. Following are the potential solutions which are formulated on the basis of employee recognition, job evaluation, job categories and the distinctive example set by Ontario in order to eliminate wage gap for women workforce. These include [And]: Introducing New Pay Equity Law The women pay equity issue can be resolved by making effective legislative regulations and entirely new laws on the national level by the federal government. This should be based upon the proactive and stand alone approach. In addition to this, it must also encompass all the job evaluation techniques so that the wage gap can be reduced on the immediate basis. Job evaluation can be done on the basis of following factors which have the strong influence over the performance, evaluation and pay equity of men and women. These factors are also extensively used by different employees so as to identify the wage gaps in their organizations [Par]: Skills: In today's corporate world employees with exceptional skills have significant career advantages in their respective fields which led them towards better pay opportunities. However; when skills are evaluated on the basis of gender then men took over this advantage while women lacked behind. In pay equity, the particular skills of men and women required to perform job tasks are separately evaluated. If they are found to be equal then equal pay is offered otherwise not. Responsibility: Men are significantly more inclined towards accepting responsibilities and performing their job tasks with complete devotion while on the other hand women are divided between their families and working lives which create hindrance for them to accept additional responsibilities apart from their actual job tasks. In this regard, the government should play its role by making necessary arrangement for working mothers. Working Conditions: Women are often subject to social and sexual harassment within the working environment which creates difficulties and projects adverse working conditions for them. Ultimately they end up compromising on the pay in order to find suitable work place. Laws against social and sexual harassment should be reexamined and must be enforced under the supervision of government officials. Education: Education combined with skills proves to be significantly beneficial for men and women both in order to excel in a specific field, however, in the real world women with required education are not equally treated as men neither they are offered same wages. The government should introduce well defined educational requirements and their respective pay equity so as to eliminate this issue. Experience: Records indicates that Canadian women possess substantial working experience as compared to men while their experience does not support them in availing pay equity. Therefore there should be certain advantages for experienced women in the labor market. These factors can be compared on the basis of different techniques such as job-to-job comparison method, proportional comparison method, and the proxy comparison method. All of these job evaluation methods are based on the gender-neutral job evaluation system which is a highly consistent system. Employers need to apply Job Evaluation techniques so as to identify the wage gap in their organizations and also to eliminate its adverse effects [Par] Reduce the impact of market forces Market forces such as demand and supply cause huge wage gaps. For instance, if demand is high then wages are also high and if supply exceeds demand then wage rates automatically decrease. Therefore reducing the impact of market forces should be the prime focus when making legislation related to pay equity. Extend the eligibility criteria to avail pay equity The eligibility criteria for availing pay equity must be changed. It should include women with certain disabilities, different nationalities, religions and skills. This is the responsibility of state government to enforce such laws which compel the organizations to develop mechanisms so as to eliminate documented or practiced discrimination against the disadvantaged groups of people. Employee protection All employees working either in public or private sector organizations must be protected through the new legislation. Protection extended towards employees includes pay equity, elimination of all types of discrimination, comfortable working conditions, etc. Remove gender bias All types of gender biases must be eliminated under the supervision of the federal government. This could be successfully done through different evaluation methods which are completely free from employer's biases. Employee involvement There should be an equivalent involvement of employees in all the decision making processes especially those which are directly related to pay equity. This will also amplify positivity among them which gives rise to employee productivity. Collective bargaining Pay equity is one of the basic human rights which should not be considered as a component of collective bargaining. It should be addressed separately in order to remove the past equity based discrimination. Maintenance and obligation of pay equity Once the law is established for the enforcement of pay equity then it is the obligation of employers to abide by its rules and regulations in order to maintain its essence and also to protect themselves from possible penalties which might fall on them due to law violation. Pay equity commission There should be a pay equity commission which would be responsible for the perfect implementation of laws. The commission would also extend educational awareness and techniques of skill development to the employees so as to ensure pay equity in addition to increasing their productivity level. Employees would also be able to register their complaints against pay discrimination and they would be allowed to formulate their specific pay equity strategies. Here the government would have to play its role by extending sufficient funds to the commission so that it can perform its tasks effectively and efficiently. Pay equity Tribunal The pay equity tribunal can be set up in order to resolve disputes and also to ensure complete enforcement of pay equity law. This would require extensive skills and knowledge about pay equity. Conclusion Women maintain a significant proportion of today’s work force which requires them to be more efficient so as to meet the modern age needs and demands. When women face issues related to pay equity then they fail to contribute in the best way towards the organizational goals and objectives. In this paper, some of the most significant solutions to resolve the issue of pay equity are explained including job evaluation, job category, employee evaluation, etc with the help of analyzing Ontario example and other successfully implemented pay equity laws. It is very important to implement effective legislative laws in Canada so as to get rid of the wage gap. References Dro: , (Drolet, 2001), Pat04: , (Harewood, 2004), And06: , (Côté, 2006), And06: , (Côté, 2006), Sus091: , (Russell, 2009), Par: , (Parbudyal Singh, 2010), Pat: , (McDermott, 1999), Les: , (Jacobs, 1995), And: , (Lassonde, 2007), Read More