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Running Head; LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 1

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION

Yuge Lu

Instructor: Russell Toth

Econ 5004: Communication in Economics

April 6, 2019

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 2

INTRODUCTION

As the world progresses to resolve some of the challenges that human beings are faced with on a

daily basis, there remains a lot to be desired as far as social issues are concerned. Labor

discrimination is one of these challenges, and as the history shows, women have been on the

trailing end as far as labor provision and its general equity and equality is concerned.

Unemployment is the principal indicator of socio-economic challenges in any given community.

On the other hand, women play a huge role in family economics and the overall stability.

Therefore, bringing together the two aspects and evaluating the discrepancy that exists in as far

as women’s position in labor market is concerned would be huge input towards promoting the

welfare of family as the basic unit of the society, and the community at large. In this paper, two

articles that highlight labor market discrimination from different perspectives shall be analyzed

with an aim to come up with an image of the issue in Canada and the world at large. The

standpoint of this essay is trying to help establish how motherhood influences the pay gap

between men and women in the modern day labor market.

Javdani, M. (2015). Glass ceilings or glass doors? The role of firms in male-female wage

disparities. Canadian Journal of Economics, 48(2), 529-560.

In this article, the author uses the phrases “glass ceiling” and “glass doors” to refer to

discrimination as it affects women in terms of the jobs they undertake, and the organizations in

which they are sorted respectively. Javdani (2015) observes that without understanding the

mechanisms by which discrimination in the labor market occurs, the policymakers may not be

able to establish sustainable solutions. As Zurndorfer, (2016)observes, there has been a lot of

emphasis on the wage gap that exists between men and women all over the world. However, it is

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 3

essential that this disparity is reviewed by wage distribution. According to Javdani (2015),

women are conspicuously underrepresented in the high wage regions of this distribution, and this

under representation intensifies as evaluation moves up the wage distribution levels. This notion

has two implications that also Heijstra, (2015) appears to concur with; that women are faced with

a glass ceiling when it comes to the labor market, and that the gap between men and women

wages is wider at the top than at the middle of the wage distribution.

The policymakers are yet to establish the mechanisms by which these glass ceilings develop, and

can thus not be able to address wage disparities between men and women. Several elements

related to discrimination in the labor market are investigated in this study including the

conditional wage distribution that may potentially be the cause the presence of the glass ceiling.

Also, the author highlights the role that segregation of women into low-paying firms versus the

low paying jobs and the input the two aspects have on discrimination in the labor market. The

other element that the author investigates is the contribution of inter-firm wages versus the inter-

firm segregation.

In Canada, the relative market qualification among other aspects such as the wage setting

institutions, wage structure, and the government policies are stated to be different compared to

those established in European environments. The author observes that the wage disparity as seen

in this study is driven by factors that are widely divided into those that are registered within

firms and those that operate between different firms. This is to say that the jobs that females are

enrolled in within firms may be lower-paying compared to their male counterparts. The other

implication is lower paying firms sort that female workers as compared to men being enrolled

with higher-paying firms. Therefore, the labor market discrimination is generally based on these

two mechanisms, under which other factors that are highlighted in this paper affect the wage gap.

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 4

It is the later mechanism that the author refers to as the glass doors as they prevent the

accessibility to high paying firms by women in favor of men.

According to the findings by Javdani (2015), it was observed that there is a common tendency of

a male being employed in a firm where 32% are female, whereas a female has a tendency of

being employed in firms where 62% are female workers. The author observes that it is only firms

that employ fewer females that tend to pay higher wages. The significance of family is also

highlighted in this case as one of the subsamples that was investigated included workers with at

least one dependent child, and those that lack such a child. The overall finding is that women are

faced with glass ceilings in their respective wage distribution levels. More importantly, these

ceilings intensify as the women rise along this distributions. The glass ceilings according to the

author may be economy-wide, or within-firm. The effects of these ceilings are more intense in

the earlier than the latter, but all the same, registered in both cases.

This article presents an exhaustive account of the mechanisms by which discrimination in the

labor market develops. Besides the factors highlighted such as the access to high paying jobs

within an organization, and access to top paying organization, the author observes that the

underlying factors such as family are also important. Example, the ability of a woman to work at

home, the hours she may be available depending on the home responsibilities are critical to

determining their vulnerability to a glass ceiling, and some extent, the glass door. The author

points out some stereotypes that may be contributing to the lesser enrollment of women in high

paying jobs, one of them being that women are more family oriented than men who are believed

to be work oriented. However, this belief would be misleading and only intensify the already

huge discrimination against women in the labor market.

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 5

Miller, C. (2017). The Gender Pay Gap Is Largely Because of Motherhood. The New York

Times. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/upshot/the-gender-pay-gap-is-

largely-because-of-

motherhood.html?mtrref=www.google.com&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=61C2

0E4AD1D7D3392295DA472BFA751C&gwt=pay

It is a traditional reality that women play more domestic roles compared to men. It is this factor

that according to Miller contributes to the eventual disparity between men’s and women’s

income in a few years after college. The aspect of childbearing is central to the wage gap that

exists between men and women as Verniers, & Vala, (2018) appear to concur. According to

Miller, it is during the women’s reproductive age that the wage gap grows wider despite both

men and women earning a reasonably balanced wage by the time they graduate. Nevertheless, it

is a known fact that all women including those that are not married and don’t have babies earn

lower wages compared to men. Most employers are wary of giving women core responsibilities

in their organizations in fear that the availability of women is unpredictable given that they may

either ask for maternity leaves or may quit their jobs to move with their husbands.

It is this turn of events that according to Schmitz, (2018) contributes to the distortion and

enlargement of the wage gap as a result of the unpredictability of women in the labor market that

is translated to unreliability from a business perspective. Miller observes that the low income and

family responsibilities influence each other in a vicious cycle where women are charged with

family chores on the basis that they earn less compared to men, whereas it is the same

responsibilities that contribute to the lower wages. This article reflects an observation also made

by Schultz, (2016) stating that despite the fact that women do cut back on their jobs, the pay cutis

not proportional, with employers paying disproportionately more and less for more and fewer

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 6

hours respectively. The major constraint for the decision makers, in this case, is the social

responsibilities that women in the society are chargedwith. However, such constraints can only

be socially addressed both at the workplace and also in public policy. Miller, (2017) suggests

that the priority should be shifted from long hours and also addressing the cost of childcare

alongside the length of leaves offered for parental purposes.

The distribution of the income at different levels observed in the previous article is reflected in

the present article. According to Miller, there is the tendency of the gap between men and

women with college degrees increasing by a more significant percentage (55%), compared to the

difference between men and women without this degree at 28%. This reinforces the notion that

the gap increases with a rise in the income distribution levels, and as such, there is the likelihood

that more men will scale these levels as compared to women. The other factor is that the jobs for

college graduates are designed for more extended hours, and it only makes it more inconvenient

for women who have other responsibilities to handle, unlike the men. The article simplifies the

role that the broader aspect of womanhood and not only motherhood affects both their position

as family pillars and professionals.

CONCLUSION

The two articles analyzed in this paper highlight the issue of labor market discrimination from

varying perspectives. However, all the dimensions come down to a common notion that several

overlapping factors contribute to disparities among men and women in the labor market, and

these disparities work in favor of men. The significance of family and the general social

responsibilities that women are expected to fulfill have been portrayed as huge contributors to

the wage gap that exists between men and women. In the first article, the barriers to equity and

equality in the labor market are said to be determined by the different levels of the wage

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 7

distribution. Both glass ceilings and glass doors contribute to the persistent wage gap in different

ways. More research would need to be done on the unknown factors that are estimated at 50% to

ensure that the necessary measures are adopted to promote family economics and the overall

equality between men and women. Woman in the labor market trying to reduce the income gap

however it still control by the firm and the society.

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION 8

REFERENCES

Heijstra, T., Bjarnason, T., & Rafnsdóttir, G. L. (2015). Predictors of Gender Inequalities in the

Rank of Full Professor. Scandinavian Journal Of Educational Research, 59(2), 214-230.

Javdani, M. (2015). Glass ceilings or glass doors? The role of firms in male-female wage

disparities. Canadian Journal Of Economics, 48(2), 529-560.

Keefe, J. (2015). Holding women back holds us all back. New Hampshire Business Review,

37(25), 22.

Lahey, K. A., & de Villota, P. (2013). ECONOMIC CRISIS, GENDER EQUALITY, AND

POLICY RESPONSES IN SPAIN AND CANADA. Feminist Economics, 19(3), 82-107.

doi:10.1080/13545701.2013.812267

Miller, C. (2017). The Gender Pay Gap Is Largely Because of Motherhood. The New York

Times. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/upshot/the-gender-pay-gap-is-

largely-because-of-

motherhood.html?mtrref=www.google.com&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=61C20E4

AD1D7D3392295DA472BFA751C&gwt=pay

Schmitz, S. (2018). Race and Gender Discrimination Across Urban Labor Markets. London:

Routledge.

Schultz, J. (2016). Gender-Wage Discrimination by Marital Status in Canada: 2006 to 2016.

Verniers, C., & Vala, J. (2018). Justifying gender discrimination in the workplace: The

mediating role of motherhood myths. Plos ONE, 13(1), 1-23.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190657

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Zurndorfer, H. (2016). Men, Women, Money, and Morality: The Development of China's Sexual

Economy. Feminist Economics, 22(2), 1-23. doi:10.1080/13545701.2015.1026834