Low-Paying Jobs for Women

Abstract Women’s Studies Entered The courtroom in the 1986 case of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sears, Roebuck and Company. The Economic Opportunity Commission (EEOC) accused Sears of sex discrimination by channeling female workers into salaried sales jobs that paid less and were less prestigious than those that included a commission as part of compensation. Sears did not dispute the lack of women in commission sales jobs but denied that the disparity was due to discriminatory practices. Sears argued that the kinds of jobs that included commissions involved traditionally male products, such as automotive supplies, plumbing, and furnaces, and often required evening or weekend work schedules. According to Sears, women lacked interest in these kinds of jobs. To the consternation of many, scholars of women’s history testified on both sides of the case, using historical information to interpret the statistical disparities in Sears’s workforce in sharply contrasting ways.