Equal Pay Act - Research Paper Example

Equal Pay Act Abstract The equal pay act has been subject of discussion across various quotas. The disputable issues in this debate ranging the practical nature and the legal requirements of the Equal Pay Act. Despite the act being amended to ensure parity in the working environment, the society and the government have failed to ensure this provision is realized. The disparities are brought about by various factors a number being external. Each stakeholder has a role to play in the equal pay act. The limitations within this act are the subject of discussion with a number of groups calling for amendments while others are recommending on government action and changes in the societal setting. The research bases on the environmental factors and the effort to change the current trend in equal pay provisions. Equal Pay Act Introduction The human spaces are dictated upon by culture and elements of stereotype. The gap between genders are triggered by the culture of intolerance and the belief that specific cultures. The male domination in the social spaces is brought about by the level of activity by authority and other social groups. Women limit themselves to opportunities that are less competitive. The effort by the gender based groups to ensure parity has created an environment where the oppressed group tends to accept situation basing their argument on the limited opportunities. The Equal pay Act has been operational for the last half century but different environments limit themselves to specifics within the act. The act tends to force cultures of disparities and create a level ground in the working spaces. The current ignore the essence of equal pay and embark in personal philosophies. The social spaces need to embrace cultures of tolerance and embark in activities that portray equity. The Equal Pay Act has been operational for many years but societies and institution tend to improvise models that jeopardize the provisions of the Equal Pay rights. Literature Review The private sector and the government need to apply the full provisions of the Equal pay act. The act has undergone a number of amendments in a bid to consider different factors within the working spaces. The discrimination experienced in the working spaces is because of ancient cultures and negative perceptions. The groups’ conservative these beliefs tend to ignore the essence of laws and embark on models that prove discriminatory in terms of gender and race. The environmental components have been the obstacle in matters parity. The perfect working environment is far from being achieved. The current trend display disparities. The male population tends to enjoy more privileges in the working spaces compared to the females. The reason for the trend remains the culture of resistances. The hierarchy within the employment environment tend to perceive that males have a large role to play in society hence require more privileges. The trend has affected the call for parity in matters pay. Discrimination in both the private and public working spaces has been on the rise. This is contrary to the countries effort to implemented rules that define equality among the working spaces. The equal pay act was first enacted in 1963. The provision was to ensure employers create equal working environments to all citizens regardless of their gender, race or physical appearance. According to Batchelor (2014), this provision is far from being realized. The author articulates that it will take more than fifty years for the country to realize equal pay in the working environment. The disparities existing within these spaces are event by the manner in which women control the working spaces. The senior most positions are male dominated with the females occupying the deputy positions. The affirmative action in most cases is achieved but disparities are evident on their salaries and wages. The male tend to benefit more despite the fact that a similar working environment exist. Gender based discrimination is common within the employ the spaces. Methodology The research will depend on data provided for by Batchelor. Bother researches on various components within the working environment in an effort to ascertain whether the Equal pay Act has been effective in creating parity within the workspaces. The research will focus on the power of female and their ability to negotiate and independently confront their superiors in the workspaces. The result is based on a research done on a selected population. The research would be essential in ascertaining whether the females have the ability to fight for their rights and whether their attitude is to blame for the disparities within the local spaces. The two researches by Batchelor will highlight various components and how they have been used to ensure society work towards parity. The court case would explore the applicability of the act in the current working environment. The case will highlight how the loopholes within the law are used to oppress women. The aim of including the case will be to highlight how different states interpret the equal pay act. The outcome of the case will set preference as to how the employers and other government institutions are contributing towards the breach of the Equal Pay Act. The data provide by Batchelor and the case will be used to compare the applicability of the act across various jurisdictions. The aim will be to ensure that the research highlight the social impact of the disparities and the effect on women welfares. The research will then highlight on the government statistics and use them to determine whether the equal act pay environment would be applicable in future. The research by National Partnership for Women and Families (2014), Bowels and Babcock (2012) will be used to compare the statistics and highlight the social gap created by the disparities in pay. The research by the organization highlights the economical factors and their negative affect females. The research compares the males and females and their earnings compared to their rate of expenditure. The result highlights on how the current economic situation negatively affect the acquisition of basic commodities by females. The research also highlights on the industrial proponents and the personal perceptions. The data uses in this research are based on statistics from the lobby groups and the government statistics. The case, government statistics and other data will be used to determine the social impact and the proponents of the equal pay act on the female gender. Results Batchelor concludes that females have a less negotiation power compared to the male. This fact highlights the advantage the male populations have compared to the female population. As to how the ability of females is while negotiating pay, it is evident from the two researches that females lack the needed quality to overcome challenges in the working environment and use available resources to fight for their rights. The research indicates that the females depended on lobby groups and other legal avenues to negotiate their rights. The males on the other hand are found to be aware of their rights and use this fact to negotiate pay adjustments and other allowances. Batchelor focuses indicates the lack of personal qualities and the manner in which they have negatively affected the females in the working environment. The court in dismisses the complainants application. This means that other law provision allow the disparities within the working spaces to take place. The research by National Partnership for Women and Families indicates that women earn 40% less than they earn the male counterparts. From the research, it is evident that different states have the same trend. The research indicates that females are less likely to access specific commodities given their levels of resources. The research highlights how females have a lower communication ability compared to the male. The females are more vulnerable to exploitation than males given their lack of negotiations and low communication skills. The research also highlights how society has shaped itself and that females are discriminated given their biological nature and by their employers due to their unreliability. While comparing the applicability of the Equal pay Act across different jurisdiction, European nations have managed to apply the provision compared to the United States of America. The European nation performed better than the United States in matters parity in pay and proper women working conditions. The society has a positive attitude in matters women and the employment environment is able to adjust their rules in an effort to ensure parity. Discussions Social factors The females tend to be socially affected by the disparities in working spaces. The gap in wages has had a negative impact on the fight against poverty and effort to ensure the minority within the social spaces are is neglected when adjusting salaries. According to the research by Bowels and Babcock, fear of victimization and social punishment is to blame for the continued disparities. In the research, the two test the negotiation power of females in the working spaces. The first test is about confidence and level the negotiation browse. The second test compares different strategies applied by different participants. The research highlights how females tend to be discriminated by the social components. The hierarchy takes less attention to matters concerning females on assumption that they are unequal to the male gender. Communication is a major component in working spaces. Dissatisfactions can only be identified when a clear communication path is designed. The research highlights that the social discrimination and work place discrimination is the main reason as to why disparities in wages occur in the working spaces. The equal opinion lacks space in the social setting. The traditional assumption that specific gender and race has more power compared to the second gender tends to affect the power of negations in the working spaces. The research shows that in a situation where the males dominate the higher hierarchy, females will tend to be affected. The affirmative action plays fewer roles in determining the level of salaries per person. Negations within the internal environment tend to influence the wage pay per person. The failure to negotiate pay will lead to [poor pay. The workspaces in this research create unsuitable environments for the females. The result is lack of females to negotiate the employment terms. The result is devastating on the social environment since the economical factor remains the same while the pay varies based on gender (Stetson & McBride, 1997). Legal proponents The law tends to offer exceptions, which employers use to victimize the female gender. The judicial process aims at seeking justice to those who fail to use the mediation process to achieve their rights. In this case the complainant tend to seek the court interpretation of the Equal pay act and whether her employer had breached the law. The court attests of how females are subject of social factors. The court ruling bases on the pay per hour rule. The court acknowledges there is need to create parity in pay but insist on effort to be in place to ensure the employers attain maximum output from the employees. The ruling paces the country of disparities in the number of hours. The provisions highlight the maximum working hours and how overtime should be compensated. The non-paid leaves tend mostly affect the females given their biological nature (EEOC v. Port Authority). According to McVeigh (2014) women earn 40% less than what male earn in the same position. The reason being the loopholes are the provisions in the current law. Employers tend to aim at ensuring each employee produces at their maximum. The law allows extra hours provided the period be compensated. In this case, the biological nature limits the hours worked by females during a year. This means that many would depend on their basic salaries to cater for their needs. Many employed females would seek judicial assistance but given their working rate and the number of unpaid leaves, the society tend to unfairly target them and hence remain vulnerable to underpayment by the employees. The government lack of control in the private sector remains the unbecoming of the females while seeking equal pay. The Pay Gap effect The research indicates that the female earn 40 percent less of what men earn. The effect of this can be reflected both economically and socially. The females remain less competitive in the social environment due to the positions set by the social requirements. The female compete for resources same as the male. The males then have an upper hand to attain these commodities compared to the males. Power is associated with money in that when the male earn more money they are able to accomplish many task compared to the females. The fact that their exist disparities in salaries, limits the female expenditures (Stetson & McBride, 1997). The statistics indicates the manner in which the pay could affect service and good acquisition. The disparities affect both the economical proponents of the females and their social status. The effort to call for equal working environments, create the complainant status brand by the employers hence further discriminations in the social setting. Equal pay in United Kingdom The United Kingdom has managed to close the salary gap between genders and races by focusing on various components. The major components are the European laws and the domestic requirements. Various proponents have been adjusted to ensure loopholes within the laws are not used to jeopardize their effort towards equal pay and working conditions. According to Equality and Human Rights commission (2010), the purpose code has been used in the country to assist the court and the employers in understanding the law provisions. Amendments over the years have ensured that those breaching the rule are punished by the legal system. European Commission on Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (2009), the social proponents where the major obstacles and the country embarked on civic education and ensure the society is aware of the new provisions and the need for parity in the workspaces. Society member’s attitude towards females is positive and employers develop a platform where dissatisfied members are given justice. The law defines what the employers are required to perform and hence the Equal Pay laws are effective in the country. Recommendation The society need to change their attitude towards the marginalized groups. The females need to be given equal treatment in the social spaces. This will empower them and change their attitude while negotiating for their rights. Contracts should be based on the legal requirements and jobs should be described to ensure those falling within the same job group are equally compensated. The females need to change their attitude and ensure that their rights are not infringed. Negotiations should be based on the law provisions rather than desperation. The society needs to adjust their spaces to ensure groups access materials needed to enlighten them on social rights. The government on the other hand needs to play an oversight role to ensure that females are equally treated in the working environments. The current laws need to be amended to exempt females from the leave without pay role. The biological factors need to be considered. The current judicial system should review their cases to ensure that people seeking justice are not victimized rather are provide by the much needed legal assistance. Conclusion The equal pay act has been operational for the last half century but its goals have not been achieved. The society has negatively affected the provisions within the act. The act has failed to achieve its desired goals with disparities still being recorded in the working spaces. The government and the social setting are equally blamed for the failures of the law. Societies tend to stick to models that defined a person based on their appearance rather than their ability and qualification. The loopholes within the laws have contributed to the disparities witness across the country. Societies tend to ignore the essence of parity rather engage in activities that suggest resistance to change. The personal traits displayed b y females worsen the matters. It is possible to change the trend by using Britain as the benchmark and changing the local provisions. Reference Batchelor (2014). Equal Pay: Top 5 IWPR Findings of 2014. Retrieved from http://www.iwpr.org/blog/tag/equal-pay/ Bowles, H. R., & Babcock, L. (2013). How can women escape the compensation negotiation dilemma? Relational accounts are one answer. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 37(1), 80-96 EEOC v. Port Authority, 10 Civ. 7462(NRB., 2012) Equality and Human Rights commission (2010). Equality Act 2010 Statutory Code of Practice Equal pay. Retrieved from http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/EqualityAct/equalpaycode.pdf European Commission on Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (2009). The effectiveness of the current legal framework on Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value in tackling the gender pay gap. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/justice/genderequality/files/opinions_advisory_committee/2009_06_opinion_gender_pay_gap_en.pdf McVeigh, K. (2014, April 8). Equal pay for US women taken up by Senate as study highlights gender gap. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/08/equal-pay-women-senate-as-study-gender-gap National Partnership for Women and Families (2014). America’s Women and the Wage Gap. Fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/workplace-fairness/fair-pay/americas-women-and-the-wage-gap.pdf Stetson, D.M & McBride, D. (1997). Women's Rights in the U.S.A.: Policy Debates and Gender Roles. Taylor & Francis. Read More