Inclusion, reversal, or displacement? : classifying regulatory approaches to pay equity

Women's claims to equal pay are increasingly regulated through the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, as expressed for example in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 100 concerning Equal Remuneration (the Equal Remuneration Convention). Yet despite this foundation, progress toward gender pay equity has been slow and incomplete. International research consistently shows that earnings differences between men and women cannot be accounted for by productivity-related characteristics, notwithstanding the critique of human capital theory methodologies.' Factors that contribute to persistent earnings differentials include differences in the types of jobs held by men and women and the method of setting pay for those jobs, structures, and workplace practices that restrict the employment prospects of workers with family responsibilities and the ongoing undervaluation of feminized work and skills.