Complex Inequality : Gender, Class, and Race in the New Economy

254 Pages·2001·1.31 MB·English

by  Leslie McCall

Complex Inequality
Perspectives on Gender
Series Editor:
Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Pleasure, Power, and Technology: Some Tales of Gender, Engineering, and the
Cooperative Workplace
Sally Hacker
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment
Patricia Hill Collins
Understanding Sexual Violence: A Study of Convicted Rapists
Diana Scully
Maid in the U.S.A.
Mary Romero
Feminisms and the Women’s Movements: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement
Ideology and Activism
Barbara Ryan
Black Women and White Women in the Professions: Analysis of Job Segregation by Race
and Gender 1960–1980
Natalie J. Sokoloff
Gender Consciousness and Politics
Sue Tolleson Rinehart
Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Grace Chang, and Linda Rennie Forcey (editors)
For Richer, For Poorer: Mothers Confront Divorce
Demie Kurz
Rock-a-bye
Verta Taylor
School-Smart and Mother-Wise: Working-Class Women’s Identity and Schooling
Wendy Luttrell
Community Activism and Feminist Politics: Organizing across Race, Class, and Gender
Nancy A. Naples (editor)
Grassroots Warriors: Activist Mothering, Community Work, and the War on Poverty
Nancy A. Naples
Complex Inequality
Gender, Class, and Race
in the New Economy
Leslie McCall
routledge
new york • london
Published in 2001 by
Routledge
29 West 35th Street
New York, NY 10001
Published in Great Britain by
Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane
London EC4P 4EE
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
Copyright © 2001 by Routledge
Chapter 2 is based in part on Leslie McCall. 1999. “Regional Restructuring and Wage
Inequality by Gender, Class, and Race.” pp. 5–88 in Women’s Progress: Perspectives on the Past,
Blueprint for the Future (Fifth Women’s Policy Research Conference Proceedings). Washington, D.C.:
Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Used with permission.
Chapter 5 is based in part on Leslie McCall. 1998. “Spatial Routes to Gender Wage (In)equal-
ity: Regional Restructuring and Wage Differentials by Gender and Education.” Economic
Geography74(4): 379–404. Used with permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including any photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publishing Data
McCall, Leslie, 1964–
Complex Inequality: gender, class, and race in the new economy / Leslie McCall.
p. cm. — (perspectives on gender)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–415–92903–2 (Print Edition)— ISBN 0–415–92904–0 (pbk.)
1. Wages—Woman—United States—Case studies. 2. Sex discrimination in employment—
United States—Case studies. 3. Race discrimination—United States—Case studies. 4. Social
classes—United States—Case studies. 5. Equal pay for equal work—United States—Case
studies. 6.Pay equity—United States—Case studies. I. Title. II. Perspectives on gender (New
York, N.Y.)
HD6061.2.U6 M363 2001
331.13'3'0972—dc21 00–047064
ISBN 0-203-90245-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-90249-1 (Glassbook Format)
Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Figures ix
Preface xi
Introduction
1. Restructuring Inequalities: A Gender, Class, and..................3
Race Perspective
Part I
2. Configurations of Inequality: Intersections of Gender,..........31
Class, and Race
3. Industrial and Postindustrial Configurations of Inequality:.......63
Detroit and Dallas
Part II
4. Breaking the Connection: Occupational.........................91
Gender Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap
5. The Difference Class Makes: The Gender Wage Gap............119
among the College- and Non-College-Educated
v
6. The Difference Gender Makes: Wage Inequality among..........145
Women and among Men
Conclusion
7. The History and Politics of Inequality Reconsidered............175
Technical Appendix 193
Notes203
References213
Index229
vi Contents
List of Tables
table 2.1 Correlations among Gender, Class, and Racial Wage
Inequality across Labor Markets, 1989
table 2.2 Configurations of Inequality
table 2.3 Wage Inequality by Gender, Class, and Race in Four Cities
Relative to the National Average for Metropolitan Areas,
1989
table 2.4 Gender, Race, and Class Inequality in U.S. Metropolitan
Areas, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Santa
Clara County, 1989
table 3.1 Economic and Demographic Characteristics of Dallas and
Detroit
table 3.2 Average Hourly Wages by Occupation, Education, and
Gender in Dallas and Detroit, 1979 and 1989 (1995 Dollars)
table 3.3 Population and Employment Distribution of the College-
Educated in Dallas and Detroit
table 4.1 The Relationship between Occupational Gender
Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap
table 4.2 Correlation between Occupational Gender Segregation
and the Gender Wage Gap across Labor Markets, 1989
vii
table 4.3 Correlations between Occupational Gender Segregation,
the Gender Wage Gap, and Labor-Market Structure, 1989
table 5.1 Female/Male Median Hourly Wage Ratios by Education,
1979 and 1989
table 5.2 Correlations between Female/Male Hourly Wage Ratios
by Education, 1989
table 5.3 Relative Estimated Wage Levels across Labor Markets by
Gender and Education, 1989
table 6.1 Correlations between Male and Female Noncollege/
College Wage Gaps, 1989
table 7.1 Typology of Anti-Inequality Reform Eras in the Twentieth-
Century United States
Appendix
table A.1 Measures of Local Labor-Market Structure
table A.2 Descriptive Statistics for Labor-Market Variables
table A.3 Descriptive Statistics for Individual-Level Variables
viii List of Tables
List of Figures
figure 2.1 The Relationship between Gender Inequality and
Inequality within Gender Groups
figure 2.2 Class Inequality in Miami and St. Louis, 1979 and 1989
figure 2.3 Gender Inequality in Miami and St. Louis, 1979 and
1989
figure 2.4 Racial Inequality in Miami and St. Louis, 1979 and 1989
figure 3.1 Class Inequality in Dallas and Detroit, 1979 and 1989
figure 3.2 Gender Inequality in Dallas and Detroit, 1979 and 1989
figure 3.3 Racial Inequality in Dallas and Detroit, 1979 and 1989
figure 4.1 Spatial Variation in Raw Occupational Gender
Segregation Indices and Female/Male Hourly Wage
Ratios, 1989
figure 4.2 Effects of Labor-Market Structure on the Adjusted
Average Occupational Gender Segregation Index, 1989
figure 4.3 Effects of Labor-Market Structure on the Adjusted
Average Female/Male Hourly Wage Ratio, 1989
figure 5.1 Median Hourly Wages by Education and Gender,
1979–1989 (1995 Dollars)
ix