The Snowballing Penalty Effect: Multiple Disadvantage and Pay

This paper makes the case that the current single‐axis approach to the diagnosis and remedy of pay discrimination is inadequate in the case of multiple disadvantage. While a good deal is known about pay gaps, particularly those affecting women, less is known about those affecting people in other dis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of management 2015-01, Vol.26 (1), p.63-77
Main Authors: Woodhams, Carol, Lupton, Ben, Cowling, Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparable worth
Fines & penalties
Management theory
Studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper makes the case that the current single‐axis approach to the diagnosis and remedy of pay discrimination is inadequate in the case of multiple disadvantage. While a good deal is known about pay gaps, particularly those affecting women, less is known about those affecting people in other disadvantaged groups and those in more than one such group. This analysis of multiple years of pay data, n = 513,000, from a large UK‐based company shows that people with more than one disadvantaged identity suffer a significantly greater pay penalty than those with a single disadvantage. The data also suggest that penalties associated with multiple disadvantage exponentially increase. In other words, disadvantages seem to interact to the detriment of people at ‘intersections’. The paper considers the implications for policies aimed at reducing pay inequalities. These currently take a single‐axis approach and may be misdirected.
ISSN:1045-3172
1467-8551
DOI:10.1111/1467-8551.12032