SOCI 180 Final Paper PDF

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Final essay on Gender Pay Inequity for SOCI 180. Class taught by Jeffrey Haydu. ...

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Amanda Erickson SOCI 180 // Haydu 12 March 2020 Case Study: Gender Pay Inequity The “Year of the Woman” was designated as the year of 1992. Only 30 years ago women were given some sense of recognition. However, despite national holidays and advocacy of women’s rights, women still hold the weight of oppression on our backs. Historically, women were seen as the bearer of children, the maker of food, the housewife, etc. and men were the providers, the hunters, and the dominant head of a household. Sadly, in some places, women are still seen and treated this way. However, strides for women in many places have been gained with the help of social movements and advocates for women advancement in attempts to eliminate this systematic oppression. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an imperative moment for women as they were able to use this as a platform for women’s rights to challenge that oppression. Several historical events such as World War II, changed the course of the male breadwinner model and allowed for women to emerge as equal providers as they started entering the workforce as the men went off to war. As more and more women were joining the workforce, their rights were continually being reconsidered as they still were not being treated the same as men. This leads me to the introduction of the case of gender pay inequity in the United States that I would like to explore in this research paper. The case of gender pay inequity involves different aspects as to why women should be paid equally to their male counterparts. This paper will go into these different aspects with respect to how gender pay inequity is framed as a social movement by looking briefly at the history of this issue and some arguments made for gender pay inequity. Additionally, the reasons for why gender pay inequity is framed in a certain light

and the tactical advantages and disadvantages will be explored. One specific case I want to illustrate this issue is the United States National Women’s Soccer Team. First of all, it’s important to explain in a bit of detail what framing is and how it is relevant for my case study. This will allow me to effectively explain the ways in which groups use framing as a tool to gain support for women’s rights, explicitly with regards to the gender pay gap. Framing within social movements uses an “interpretive framework,” utilizing the idea that framing is like a picture frame where you can select what you want to fit in the frame and what parts to exclude (Haydu, January 2020). Framing can also have a “building framework” which gives an overall shape and wraps things all up into one general frame (Haydu, January 2020). Within these frameworks, social movements are able to effectively frame their cause by calling out injustices, show that a problem can be changed, or redefine an individual problem as a larger, social problem that affects many people. My case study largely focuses on framing pay equity as an injustice to women, as well as tries to redefine how we value women’s work. Through these types of frames, individuals and organizations mobilize movements to gain support from different audiences to make tangible changes. One of the first tangible changes made for women in reaching equal pay was the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This act stated that no employer shall discriminate on the basis of sex in paying wages for “equal work as that requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility being performed under similar working conditions” (Treiman & Hartman 3-4). One year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted which “prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in all employment practices, including hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, and other terms, privileges, and conditions of employment” (Treiman & Hartman 4). These two pieces of legislation were catapults for women in the fight for equal pay as women could no

longer be paid differently than their male counterparts in jobs who completed similar work as them. These acts allowed for women to utilize a specific term that President Kennedy introduced, which was affirmative action (Blum 382). Affirmative action was a way for women to actually hold employers accountable and liable by pointing out discrimination that still persisted despite the legislation that was enacted that made the discrimination they were facing illegal (Brunner & Rowen, Affirmative Action History). This benefited women who were able to advance into managerial, professional and craft jobs that were dominated by men (Blum 382). This sounds like a great step forward for women as they were now moving into higher-paying jobs. However, the percentage of women who were actually advancing in these fields was not representative of the percentage of women who were in the labor force, leaving a majority of women in unequaland low-paying jobs (Blum 382). The women who are in these lower-paid jobs needed a way to fight for their same right of equal pay, which brought on a larger movement that more women were able to identify with which was the “comparable worth and pay equity movement” or CWPE (Killingsworth 172). Although affirmative action wasn’t beneficial for all women in the labor force, it paved the way for CWPE by creating “rising expectations and political opportunities” for all women (Blum 382). This movement was largely influenced by “rightsbased arguments about equal pay [which] provided potent frames for mobilizing activists” (McCann 259). The frame that is created out of this is one of basic rights, that women deserve to be paid equally as men in similar jobs because it is a civil right. The precedent from case law that was formed in equal pay cases allowed for social movements to advance agendas that women’s work was of comparable value to the men in the same job (McCann 259). A group of women who I identify with largely and have led the fight for equal pay in modern day are a part of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT). The USWNT sued

the US Soccer Federation in March 2019 for gender discrimination in regards to the wages they were being paid in comparison to the U.S. Men’s National Team (Tulshyan, Harvard Business Review). This is the first lawsuit of it’s kind in professional sports, claims Ruchika Tulshyan (Harvard Business Review). The importance behind this lawsuit is bigger than just the USWNT, however, the way they framed it and utilized their resources has made important gains for their team, as well as creating precedent for others in the professional sports industry and beyond. First, the team initially had a few individuals from the team advocate for this issue such as Megan Rapinoe. However, just the few voices were not being heard. Thus, all 28 women who are on the USWNT have joined in on this fight for pay equity to show that their value to the US Soccer Federation isn’t just a few individuals, it is the whole entire team (Tulshyan, Harvard Business Review). This frames the problem as not just individual discrimination, but systematic discrimination of an entire team. Second, the hard data that was presented in the lawsuit simply outlines the blatant discrimination from the US Soccer Federation which inevitabily is a really strong way of gaining support from external audiences who don’t respond to simply the “morals or ethics” of the situation (Tulshyan, Harvard Business Review). The data essentially showed the disparity of earnings between the men’s and women’s team of 38% more to the men despite the women’s team generating nearly one million dollars more in revenue for the US Soccer Federation (Tulshyan, Harvard Business Review). The National Organization of Women is another example of using facts and data to frame the importance of women closing the wage gap (National Organization of Women). Also, the USWNT have used the tactic of having a leader who essentially has clout to gain support for their fight. This leader, as she has advocated for this issue for a long time, is Megan Rapinoe (Tulshyan, Harvard Business Review). Rapinoe is a diverse woman who advocates for equal pay, as well as LGBTQ+ rights. This allows for different

audiences to become involved and become supportive of the USWNT larger movement of women’s rights. Finally, Sidney LeRoux, a gold medal winner in the 2012 Olympics for Team USA, a 2015 FIFA World Cup winner, and most importantly, a mom recently opened up about paying more for her child care than her salary for her professional team in the National Women Soccer League (Negley, Yahoo! Finance). This phenomenon is referred to as the “motherhood penalty” where women are economically disadvantaged due to the lost wages and career advancement that is taken away from being a mother (Koropeckyj-Cox & Pendell 900). The USWNT has several other mothers, but many don’t have children because of their small salaries and limited sponsorships as an extra revenue stream (Negley, Yahoo! Finance). Framing the issue of CWPE as a movement for mothers, allows for even more women and parents to join this fight. This fight spearheaded by the USWNT has inspired and brought more cases of equal pay movements into brighter light such as the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team who were barely making living wages or WNBA players who “take home a maximum of 22.8 percent” of the league’s revenue compared to the NBA players who are paid 49-51 percent of the leagues revenue (Women’s Sports Foundation). These women find ways to create larger followings and support by partnering with companies who support equal pay. For example, Procter & Gamble, specifically the Secret deodorant platform of the company, launched a campaign for the issue of equal pay called “I’d Rather Get Paid.” Former USWNT star forward, Abby Wambach and former WNBA player, Swin Cash, were featured in a video for this campaign to put faces to this movement (Ochwat, Secret ‘I’d Rather Get Paid’ Campaign). For the USWNT, this isn’t just pay inequity for their team, this is for all the women who are not being valued for the same work as men. Another approach to closing the pay gap is shared by many African-American Women

Leaders and Women’s Organizational Leaders which is the need for “constant protest and pressure” to achieve pay equity (Black & Rothman 127). Protests, especially rallies on designated days such as Equal Pay Day, allow for people to come together to speak up and demonstrate the need for equality. In 2017, several cities held bake sales which sold cookies that were priced based on gender and race to show the levels of inequality (O’Hara, NBCNews.com). Women of color, especially African American and Hispanic women, face an even harsher pay disparity between the white-non-Hispanic man. African American women in 2019 were being paid around 61 cents for every dollar to men and even less, Latinas are paid 51 cents for every white man’s dollar (Connley, “Reminder: Today isn’t Equal Pay Day for all women”). A large frame among these groups of women is diversity and gaining support through the diverse backgrounds that women of color share (“The Surprising Data behind Latina Equal Pay Day.”). There are several advantages to how the comparable worth and pay equity movement is framed in general, as well as specifically how the USWNT frames it as well. In general, the CWPE movement is not just supposed to protect equal pay for women. It is applicable to anyone who is not being paid for the similar work they are completing compared to others in their same job position. This allows the framing of this movement to really focus on the people who have been personally discriminated against (Black & Rothman 115). Also, having this broader frame allows for more types of people to join the movement and support, such as men supporting women. The US Men’s National Team ended up backing the USWNT in their fight for pay equity by making a public statement about their support for the USWNT (Tulshyan, Harvard Business Review). The CWPE specifically addresses working class women, and allows for lowincome women’s concerns to be more widely addressed. Most of these women just want their contributions recognized, and framing this issue in terms of working women allows for

widespread support and collective mobility of the movement (Blum 382). Conversely, there are disadvantages to the frames created within the CWPE movement too. In some cases, the comparable worth movement doesn’t necessarily unite all women. A lot of times, this movement can pit certain women against men in the same class level as them, creating social tension among other women who are advocating for this and trying to gain support from men too (Blum 380). The “cultural resonance” that is formed from this movement loses its meaning to some women, and inhibits them from seeing how this is a problem for many people, not just women (Haydu, January 2020). Also, the CWPE movement doesn’t necessarily get rid of the institutional hierarchy of jobs. It questions how employers use judgement of skill for employees, but it just presents a new type of hierarchy “based on a more just evaluation of work” that still considers “skill-based hierarchies of rewards (Bulm 394). In order for this movement to break down the institutional hierarchies that are created in America from old ideas of women’s place in the workforce, a more radical movement must occur. In conclusion, the case of gender pay inequity is a long one and an ongoing one. I truly believe that women are going to have to continue to find different ways to frame this issue in order to make any significant jump in the wage gap. However, looking at the USWNT and their fight for equal pay is an indication that this isn’t just happening to a few women in low-income jobs. This is happening on a large scale, within the sports industry, and beyond. The institutional biases that are built within the US labor force will have to be continually questioned and challenged to see that this is not women merely complaining about making more money, but a persistent discrimination and oppression of women in society.

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