Prevalence of Workplace Discrimination and Inequality Issues in The United States

Discrimination and inequality are among the many contemporary work and employment issues (Colella & King, 2018). These are prevalent problems that tend to threaten the success and the very nature that holds society together. Despite their prevalence and the consequences that follow discriminative acts, people still find themselves entangled in the possibilities of these menaces. In fact, various studies indicate that discrimination and workplace inequality continue to flourish, despite many states employing policies that deter these instances. For instance, a study that analyzed workplace trends from 1997 to 2015 found that over one million discrimination complaints were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (McMahon & McMahon, 2016). Thirty-four percent of these cases were related to race, 32 percent were related to disability, and the rest were linked to issues of sex.

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Another study conducted between 2009 and 2014 found a total of 916,623 discrimination cases files with the EEOC (Kim, 2015). The highest rates of discrimination within these cases occurred in southern states, with Alabama experiencing the highest discrimination rates, followed by Mississippi (Kim, 2015). Looking at the numbers and the commonness of workplace discrimination in the United States, one may be tempted to think that there are no laws that govern employer-employee relationships while in the workplace, which is not the case. Different US states and the federal government have policies that direct fairness in the workplace. The 1963 Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among others, are some of the available policies that direct workplace employer-employee relationships (Kim, 2015). Nevertheless, all these policies have their strengths and limitations, directly affecting American workers in diverse ways.

Strengths of Workplace Equity Policies

The 1963 Equal Pay Act is one known policy that brought significant workplace changes (Fredman, 2011). Equal Pay Act is one of the federal anti-discrimination policies that addressed wage differences based on gender. The Act was an effort to correct the over 100-year-old problem of wage inequalities that inappropriately affected American women (Fredman, 2011). In the 20th century, women made up a quarter of the American workforce, but they were often paid less than men, even in areas where they performed the same jobs. In some jurisdictions, female employees were forced to contend with policies that affected their working schedules. This policy is significant as it corrected these instances. More importantly, the policy bridged the gap between the rich and the poorest in America. A study by Rubery and Grimshaw (2015) indicated that income inequality has been decreasing in the United States as a result of many companies adapting to the Equal Pay Act. In the 1980s, the average income of the wealthiest 10 percent in the United States was nine times higher than the most deficient 10 percent; today, it is about seven times higher (Rubery & Grimshaw, 2015). The Equal Pay Act worked best at keeping salary and wage decisions from being based on the gender of the employee. It bridged the gap between the rich and the poor but significantly improved how each part of the production is split. In other words, it improved the division of labor. For the first time, women were allowed to work in specific job areas while not sacrificing their wages.

Division of labor is, according to Kurtz, Linnemann, and Williams (2012), an economic idea which states that dividing production into different processes enables workers to concentrate on specific tasks, therefore, adding to overall efficiency. For instance, if a worker can concentrate on one small aspect of production, the overall efficiency of the business will increase. Most people argue that labor division in cases where women are given preferential treatment results from biological traits. However, if one looks at this closely, it is possible to see societies where women perform tasks regarded as men’s jobs in other societies. Moreover, when the Equal Pay Act was passed, most women worked as secretaries and typists; it was hard to find women in significant managerial positions. Today women occupy 10 percent of top managerial positions in S&P 1500 companies (Costantini et al., 2020). The number of women in senior management positions is also increasing in the global context. For example, the percentage of women in senior management positions grew by 29 percent in 2019, which is the highest number ever reported (Costantini et al., 2020). Most would argue that the Equal Pay Act brought equality into the workplace and enabled people to see labor as a co