A More Proactive Approach to Addressing Gender-related Employment Disparities in the United States

Mary E. Graham and Julie Hotchkiss

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a proactive public policy approach to complement relatively reactive existing policies addressing gender-related employment disparities in the USA, and to provide an initial empirical illustration of the proposal. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a conceptual application of theories of total quality management (TQM) to the topic of gender-related employment disparities, followed by an empirical illustration using US Current Population Survey data and a gender equal employment opportunity (EEO) scorecard. Findings – Using the TQM framework, company outliers were conceptualized on the EEO scorecard as “special” causes of economy-wide equal employment variation and the industries in which companies are situated as “common” causes. The paper identifies two underperforming industries on gender-related employment outcomes: Mining and Construction, and Transportation, Communication and Utilities. Research limitations/implications – Further conceptual work on the application of TQM to gender disparities in employment is recommended. Also, the study considered broad industry categories; future research should refine these categories further. Practical implications – It is recommended that US enforcement agencies incorporate industry considerations more explicitly into their activities. Employer insights may be beneficial to improving equal employment opportunity performance at the industry level. Originality/value – The application of TQM theory to the topic of gender-related employment disparities is a novel approach that may motivate new public policies.

Keywords: Gender; Equal opportunities; Sexual discrimination; Human resource management; United States of America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J33 J50 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Gender in Management: an International Journal 8.24(2009): pp. 577-595

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/44795/1/MPRA_paper_44795.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:44795

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().