IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/femeco/v30y2024i3p69-96.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Value of Work: The Gendered Outcomes of Organizational Wage Reforms

Author

Listed:
  • Hadas Mandel
  • Amit Lazarus
  • Adi Moreno

Abstract

This study explores the influence of organizational practices on gender in/equality in a unique setting: the reformed Israeli kibbutz. The transition of the kibbutz from all members receiving an allowance to waged labor provides an opportunity to explore the impact of wage determination systems on gender pay inequality. The study uses a mixed-method approach: descriptive statistics of administrative data, in-depth interviews, and a focus group with kibbutz management. The findings demonstrate that a “market-based logic,” embedded with gendered preconceptions of “women’s work,” can seep into an organization through a shift in the wage determination system, and increase gender inequality. The findings also highlight the lack of organizational awareness about the gendered consequences of this shift, or even their uncritical acceptance of the “value hierarchy” as ordained by the market. The study thus supports the theory positing gender as a hidden but integral aspect of reward systems in contemporary labor markets.HIGHLIGHTS The choice of a wage determination system is critical for gender inequality.“Women’s work” is valued higher by analytical job evaluation systems, which reduce gender biases.Market-based wage determinations introduce biases and increase organizational gender inequality.Management prefers market-based wage determinations due to competition and costs.The “free market” not only obscures gender hierarchies but also legitimizes them.

Suggested Citation

  • Hadas Mandel & Amit Lazarus & Adi Moreno, 2024. "The Value of Work: The Gendered Outcomes of Organizational Wage Reforms," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 69-96, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:30:y:2024:i:3:p:69-96
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2024.2375986
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13545701.2024.2375986
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13545701.2024.2375986?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:30:y:2024:i:3:p:69-96. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RFEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.