Swedish and american approaches to improving working women's status: Context and comparable worth

Abstract

Recently, comparable worth has been offered as one important tool for reducing status disparity between working men and women. Using a comparative analysis of strategies for enhancing working women's status in American and Swedish public organizations, in this article we argue that to be an effective tool for lessening status disparity, the notion of comparable worth must extend well beyond attempts to equalize wages in jobs held predominantly by either men or women. Here, we review the magnitude and sources of the more blatant indicators of status disparity between men and women and describe and critique the distinct organizational approaches used in the U.S. and Sweden for combatting gender status disparity. In our conclusion we suggest that both the Swedish and American comparable worth approaches are limited primarily because they attempt to make status disparity between working men and women something other than a gender issue.