Despite years of equal opportunity and affi rmative action eff orts, women remain concentrated in certain lower-level positions. In a study of the federal senior service, Mani (1997) noted that women occupied 85 percent of all clerical positions but only 13 percent

Research repeatedly highlights the gap between male and female earnings across the public and private sectors. Th e authors address an overlooked manifestation of pay discrimination against women in the labor market. Using a survey of 384 public sector chief procurement offi cers, they analyze the indirect eff ects of gender on women's pay through the intervening variable of authority. Gender aff ects the amount of authority that is delegated to an employee, which, in turn, aff ects the variance in pay between men and women. Results reveal that gender plays a hidden role in infl uencing compensation levels by shifting the chain of authority given to executives as they build a career portfolio. Th e conclusion underscores why gender pay disparities should account for both the indirect and the direct eff ects of gender on pay.

Women in the workforce, especially those in professional and management positions, are doubly burdened by social traditions that expect workers to meet masculine standards at the office while maintaining their feminine role of nurturer at home. This article studies the social costs of female career progression using a survey of 1,600 respondents from different levels of the public sector. The results show that working women have an increased incidence of being single or divorced, married working women tend to have more housework responsibilities, and working women have fewer children or are childless. The article concludes that government and business organizations need to pay serious attention to this hidden problem of social costs that affect women and men disproportionately.

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