Correcting an Inequity

Women are underpaid in too many jobs today. Correcting that inequity is a difficult task, but one that government and business must continue to address with vigor and good will. The latest round in that fight, an appeals court ruling overturning an equal-pay order in a Washington state case, will hardly be the last round. The overriding question now is what people who want to balance the pay scales should do.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a district judge had erred in saying that the state of Washington must pay women equally with men for performing jobs requiring similar levels of skill. The decision, which undoubtedly will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, deals a setback to women and their unions that had hoped to use the courts to redress their grievance. But the courts are not the best place to settle questions of who gets paid how much.

The appeals court left open the possibility of legislative action to correct pay inequities. It said that the legislature wasn’t obligated under law to act, but could do so if it wished--which is the principle that the state’s attorney general was seeking to uphold in winning his case. The Washington Legislature has set aside $42 million to help increase pay of female employees. Minnesota took a similar step several years ago, as did California, but Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed that appropriation.

Just last week the California Legislature finished work on a bill restating its determination that the state should pay comparable salaries to employees whose duties are comparable. The legislation would set up a commission to study which job categories would be affected. The governor should sign the bill and urge that, once the report is completed, the dollar amounts be settled through union negotiations.

The Los Angeles City Council has led the way in how best to resolve pay issues. At the urging of Councilwoman Joy Picus, the city decided to negotiate the question with the union representing about 4,000 municipal clerks and librarians. It did so, and successfully. Sometimes, however, labor unions don’t have the strength to win such agreements or don’t have forward-looking people on the other side of the bargaining table. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors might have avoided a major lawsuit if it had been more willing to negotiate with its workers.

The disparity in pay in jobs held mainly by women took decades to develop. And it developed for many reasons--largely because women moved in and out of the work force and had little leverage to push for higher pay, and because few women were setting the wage scales.

For whatever reasons the discrimination developed, it will be to all workers’ advantage to end it. The growth in the job market in coming years will be in many of the office and service-work fields traditionally dominated by women, and higher pay in those jobs will benefit all who hold them. It would also benefit employers to deal in good faith on these issues, because the courts are an inappropriate place to settle them.