Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-jwnkl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T11:26:33.614Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Legal Age Discrimination on Women in Professional Occupations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Nancy B. Kurland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This paper describes how anticipated age discrimination in the form of disparate treatment induces behavior that in effect constitutes gender discrimination. Potential employers often exhibit a common pattern of behavior that acts to discriminate against older workers entering a specific workplace. Women, at a decision-making point early in their lives, are aware of this pattern of discrimination. They perceive that it is important for them to establish their careers before they have a family because it will be more difficult for them to enter the work force at a later age and excel at their careers. This anticipated age discrimination disparately impacts women, resulting in gender discrimination.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , April 2001 , pp. 331 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahrons, C. 1999. Professor of Sociology. University of Southern California. Private conversation. April 27.Google Scholar
Arrowsmith, J. and McGoldrick, A. 1997. Breaking down the barriers of age discrimination. Journal of Managerial Psychology 12: 62–61.Google Scholar
Avolio, B. J.; Waldman, D. A.; and McDaniel, M. A. 1990. Age and work performance in nonmanagerial jobs: The effects of experience and occupational type. Academy of Management Journal 33: 407–422.Google Scholar
Bailyn, L. 1992. Issues of work and family in different national contexts: how the United States, Britain, and Sweden respond. Human Resource Management (Special Issue on Work and Family) 31: 201–207.Google Scholar
Barnum, P.; Liden, R. C; and DiTomaso, N. 1995. Double jeopardy for women and minorities: Pay differences with age. Academy of Management Journal 38: 863–880.Google Scholar
Bird, C. P. and Fisher, T. D. 1986. Thirty years later: attitudes toward the employment of older workers. Journal of Applied Psychology 71: 515–518.Google Scholar
Boatright, J. R. 1997. Ethics and the conduct of business. 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Buttner, E. H. and Moore, D. P. 1997. Women’s organizational exodus to entrepreneurship: self-reported motivations and correlates with success. Journal of Small Business Management 35: 34–47.Google Scholar
Chatman, J. A. 1991. Matching people and organizations: Selection and socialization in public accounting firms. Administrative Science Quarterly 26: 459–484.Google Scholar
Cleveland, J. N. and Landy, F. J. 1983. The effects of person and job stereotypes on two personnel decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology 68: 609–619.Google Scholar
Cleveland, J. N. and Landy, F. J. 1987. Age perceptions of jobs: Convergence of two questionnaires. Psychological Reports 60: 1075–1081.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Couturier, B. 1989. 44 women’s groups blast concept of “mommy track.’” Los Angeles Times, March 23, p. 1.Google Scholar
Crispell, D. 1993. Planning no family, now or ever; one in six women will never have children. Nonparents are a different breed of consumer. American Demographics 15: 10, 23–25.Google Scholar
Curran, B. 1995. Women in the law: A look at the numbers. American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession.Google Scholar
Day, N. 1993. Performance in salespeople—the impact of age. Journal of Managerial Issues 5: 254–273.Google Scholar
De Beauvoir, S. 1952. The second sex. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Dedrick, E. J. and Dobbins, G. H. 1991. The influence of subordinate age on managerial actions: An attributional analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior 12: 367–377.Google Scholar
Devanna, M. A. 1984. Male/female careers—the first decade: A study of MB As. New York: Columbia University Graduate School of Business.Google Scholar
Dobbins, G. H.; Truxillo, D. M.; and Cardy, R. L. 1988. The effects of purpose of appraisal and individual differences in stereotypes of women on sex differences in performance ratings: a laboratory and field study. Journal of Applied Psychology 73:551–558.Google Scholar
Duby, G. and Perrot, M. 1992–1994. A history of women in the west. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Fagenson, E. A. and Jackson, J. J. 1993. The status of women managers in the United States. International Studies of Management and Organization 23: 93–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinstein, S. 1990. Should women surrender a civil right to win a job? The Wall Street Journal, February 13, p. A1.Google Scholar
Ferris, G. R.; Yates, V. L.; Gilmore, D. C; and Rowland, K. M. 1985. The influence of subordinate age on performance ratings and causal attributions. Personnel Psychology 38: 545–557.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, L. M.; Burke, M. J.; and Raju, N. S. 1995. Age discrimination in simulated employment contexts: an integrative analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology 80: 652–664.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, L. M. and Burke, M. J. 1998. Age stereotyping at work: The role of rater and contextual factors on evaluations of job applicants. The Journal of General Psychology 125: 317–345.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, M.; Seal, R. K.; and Schuster, J. H. 1998. The new academic generation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, M. 1977. The women’s room. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Friedan, B. 1963. The feminine mystique. New York: Dell.Google Scholar
Gaffney, M. A.; McEwen, R. A.; Welsh, M. J. 1990. Advice to firms: gender differences in expectations of success impacts recruiting. The CPA Journal 60: 86–89.Google Scholar
Galant, D. 1996. Can Wall Street women have it all? Institutional Investor 30: 143–146.Google Scholar
Gibson, K. J.; Zerbe, W. J.; and Franken, R. E. 1993. The influence of rater and ratee age on judgments of work-related attributes. The Journal of Psychology 121:211.Google Scholar
Giniger, S.; Dispenzieri, A.; and Eisenberg, J. 1983. Age, experience, and performance on speed and skill jobs in an applied setting. Journal of Applied Psychology 68: 469–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, R. A. and Arvey, R. D. 1986. Perceived and actual ages of workers. Journal of Vocational Behavior 28: 21–28.Google Scholar
Graham, P 1986. The special talents women bring to participative management. International Management 41: 60.Google Scholar
Greenberg, D. H. 1999. Discriminationattorney.com Web site: <http://www.discnminationattorney.com/sex.html>>Google Scholar
Greenberg, D. H. and Pasternack, J. 1998. Age discrimination. The Successful Accountant, Spring. Web site: <http://www.discriminationattorney.com/article-age.html>>Google Scholar
Halpert, J. A.; Wilson, M. L.; and Hickman, J. L. 1993. Pregnancy as a source of bias in performance appraisals. Journal of Organizational Behavior 14: 649–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilman, M. E. 1980. The impact of situational factors on personnel decisions concerning women: Varying the sex composition of the applicant pool. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 26: 386–395.Google Scholar
Hersch, J. and Stratton, L. S. 1994. Housework, wages, and the division of housework time for employed spouses. American Economic Review 84: 120–125.Google Scholar
Hooks, K. L. 1996. Diversity, family issues, and the Big 6. Journal of Accountancy 182: 511.Google Scholar
Hopkins, E. 1990. Who is Felice Schwartz and why is she saying those terrible things about us? Working Woman 15: 116–120.Google Scholar
Hull, R. P. and Umansky, P. H. 1997. An examination of gender stereotyping as an explanation for vertical job segregation in public accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society 22: 507–528.Google Scholar
Jackson, L. A.; Gardner, P. D.; and Sullivan, L. 1992. Explaining gender differences in self-pay expectations: social comparison standards and perceptions of fair pay. Journal of Applied Psychology 77: 651–663.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. W. and Neumark, D. 1997. Age discrimination, job separations, and employment status of older workers: Evidence from self-reports. The Journal of Human Resources 32: 779–811.Google Scholar
Johnston, J. N. 1996. Of glass ceilings and sticky floors. The Wall Street Journal, May 10, p. A1O.Google Scholar
Kiecker, P. L.; Hunt, S. D.; and Chonko, L. B. 1995. Gender, income differences, and marketing: Examining the “earnings gap” in three areas of marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 19: 77–82.Google Scholar
King, T. T. and Stockard, J. B. 1990. The woman CPA: career and family. The CFA Journal 60: 22–26.Google Scholar
Kolpin, V. W. and Singell, L. D. Jr. 1996. The gender composition and scholarly performance of economics departments: A test for employment discrimination. Industrial and Labor Relations 49: 408–423.Google Scholar
Kurland, N. B. and Bailey, D. E. 1999. When workers are here, there, and everywhere: A discussion of the advantages and challenges of telework. Organizational Dynamics, Autumn, pp. 53–68.Google Scholar
Lauersen, N. H. and Bouchez, C. 1991. Getting pregnant: What couples need to know right now. New York: Fawcett Columbine.Google Scholar
Lawrence, B. S. 1984. Age grading: The implicit organizational timetable. Journal of Occupational Behavior 5: 23–35.Google Scholar
Lawrence, B. S. 1987. An organizational theory of age effects. Research in the Sociology of Organizations 5: 37–71.Google Scholar
Lawrence, B. S. 1988. New wrinkles in the theory of age: Demography, norms, and performance ratings. Academy of Management Journal 31: 309–337.Google Scholar
Lawrence, B. S. 1996a. Interest and indifference: The role of age in the organizational sciences. In Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management 14: 1–59.Google Scholar
Lawrence, B. S. 1996b. Organizational age norms: Why is it so hard to know one when you see one? The Gerontologist 36: 209–220.Google Scholar
Lee, D. 1997. Live with life’s limits—happily. Executive Female 20: 45–48.Google Scholar
Levinson, W.; Tolle, S. W.; and Lewis, C. 1989. Women in academic medicine: combining career and family. The New England Journal of Medicine 321: 1511–1517.Google Scholar
Linden, F. 1987. Women’s work is almost never done. Across the Board 24: 5–7.Google Scholar
Lobel, S. A. and St. Clair, L. 1992. Effects of family responsibilities, gender, and career identity salience on performance outcomes. Academy of Management Journal 35:1057–1069.Google Scholar
Machnes, Y. 1992. The demand for work-loss days due to illness. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 18: 283–286.Google Scholar
Magid, R. Y. 1986. When mothers and fathers work: how employers can help. Personnel 63: 50–56.Google Scholar
Maloney, T. W., and Pai, I. B. 1989. Enabling older Americans to work. Annual Report of the Commonwealth Fund. New York: Harkness House.Google Scholar
Mathews, J. 1995. Poll finds women favor dual roles; most in survey proud of ability to blend work, home responsibilities. The Washington Post, May 11, p. B13.Google Scholar
Maupin, R. and Lehman, C. R. 1994. Talking heads: stereotypes, status, sex-roles and satisfaction of female and male auditors. Accounting, Organizations and Society 19: 427–437.Google Scholar
McAllister, F and Clarœ, L. 1998. Choosing childlessness: a study of childlessness in Britain. Family Policies Studies Centre, <http://www.vois.org.uk/fpsc/>Google Scholar
McEvoy, G. M. and Caseio, W. F 1989. Cumulative evidence of the relationship between employee age and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 74: 11–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, M. 1998. When medicine, marriage and motherhood don’t mix. Medical Economics 75: 100–105.Google ScholarPubMed
National Center for Health Statistics. 1995. Vital statistics of the United States, 1992, vol. 1, table 1–55, Natality. Washington: Public Health Service. 13–15.Google Scholar
Neugarten, Moore, and Lowe, . 1965. Age norms, age constraints, and age socialization. The American Journal of Sociology 70: 710–717.Google Scholar
Olson, J. E.; Frieze, I. H.; and Detlefsen, E. G. 1990. Having it all? Combining work and family in a male and female profession. Sex Roles 23: 515–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, E. L. 1997. A cognitive approach to understanding discrimination: A closer look at applicant gender and age. Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management 15: 175–240.Google Scholar
Perry, E. L.; Kulik, C. T.; and Bourhis, A. C. 1996. Moderating effects of personal and contextual factors in age discrimination. Journal of Applied Psychology 81: 628–648.Google Scholar
Peters, J. K. 1998. Penciling in motherhood. Across the Board 35: 11.Google Scholar
Phelan-Adams, A. 1993. Child care crisis especially acute for women doctors. American Medical News 36: 24.Google Scholar
Pringle, R. 1998. Sex and medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rindfuss, R. R.; Morgan, S. P.; and Offutt, K. 1996. Education and the changing age pattern of American fertility: 1963–1989. Demography 33: 277–290.Google Scholar
Rosen, B., and Jerdee, T. H. 1976a. The nature of job-related age stereotypes. Journal of Applied Psychology 61: 180–183.Google Scholar
Rosen, B., and Jerdee, T. H. 1976b. The influence of age stereotypes on managerial decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology 61: 428–432.Google Scholar
Rosen, B., and Jerdee, T. H. 1977. Too old or not too old. Harvard Business Review, November-December, pp. 97–107.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, H. S. and Hpstein, Y. M. 1993. Getting pregnant when you thought you couldn’t: The interactive guide that helps you up the odds. New York: Warner Books.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, J. E. 1984. Career mobility in a corporate hierarchy. San Francisco: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, J. E. 1989. Organizational career systems and employees’ misperceptions. In Handbook of Career Theory, ed. Arthur, M. B.; Hall, D. T.; and Lawrence, B. S.New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schaller, J. G. 1990. The advancement of women in academic medicine. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association 264: 1854–1855.Google Scholar
Schneer, J. A. and Reitman, F. 1990. Effects of employment gaps on the careers of MBAs: More damaging for men than for women? Academy of Management Journal 33: 391–406.Google Scholar
Schneer, J. A. and Reitman, F. 1993. Effects of alternate family structures on managerial career paths. Academy of Management Journal 36: 830–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, B. 1987. The people make the place. Personnel Psychology 40: 437–453.Google Scholar
Schwartz, F. 1989. Management women and the new facts of life. Harvard Business Review 67: 65–71.Google Scholar
Strober, M. H. 1982. The MBA: Same passport to success for women and men? In Women in the workplace, ed. Wallace, P. A., pp. 25–44. Boston: Auburn House.Google Scholar
Stroh, L. K., Brett, J. M., and Reilly, A. H. 1992. All the right stuff: a comparison of female and male managers’ career progression. Journal of Applied Psychology 77:251–261.Google Scholar
Thornton, M. 1996. Dissonance and distrust: Women in the legal profession. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1999a. Table MS-1: Marital status of the population 15 years old and over, by sex and race: 1950 to present. (January 7). Available on line at: <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/ms-la/tabms-1.txt>>Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1999b. Table MS-2: Estimated median against at first marriage, by sex: 1890 to the present. (January 7). Available on line at: <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/ms-la/tabms-2.txt>>Google Scholar
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 1999. <http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/index.html>>Google Scholar
Valian, V. 1998. Why so slow? The advancement of women. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Van Maanen, J. and Schein, E. 1979. Toward a theory of organizational socialization. Research in Organizational Behavior 1: 209–264.Google Scholar
Waldman, D. A. and Avolio, B. J. 1986. A meta-analysis of age differences in job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology 71: 33–38.Google Scholar
Warr, T. 1994. Age and employment. In Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, ed. Triandis, H. C., Dunnette, M. D., and Hough, L. M., Vol. 4, 2nd ed., pp. 485–550. Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Wever, K. S. 1998. Changing work in America: the Family and Medical Leave Act. Radcliffe Public Policy Institute. Radcliffe College. Report available through <http://www.radcliffe.edu/pubpol/fmla.html.>Google Scholar