Part 8: Equal Opportunity THE EARNINGS GAP AND PAY EQUITY: DEVELOPMENTS IN FIVE COUNTRIES

International variability in both the extent of the average female-male earnings gap and its pattern of change in the last few decades is considerable. The types of measures adopted, for equity and/or efficiency reasons, to improve the position of women in the paid labour force also vary. The pervasiveness of horizontal (and to a slightly lesser extent, vertical) occupational segregation by gender and ethnicity is a more common thread, but the degree to which this is responsible for the earnings gap is less certain. To throw some light on inte1 national differences in experience and policy, a thorough examination is needed of the various legal, administrative, industrial relations and ideological frameworks governing the labour markets, and the wider economic and social contexts. This paper attempts to take a small step in this direction by briefly discussing pay equity initiatives in five countries, Aus~ Canada ~ Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States. The justification for pay equity within initiatives towards gender equality is, of course, controversial. Even among feminists, positions depend on perspectives (over-simplistically, liberal, feminist or socialist), and with assessments of which groups of women, if any, may gain to what extent from pay equity successes (Acker 1989