W H A T ELSE DO UNIONS DO?

: R A C E A N D G E N D E R
I N L O C A L 35

Rhonda M. Williams and Peggie R. Smith

Most analyses of the relationship between job segregation and gender

wage inequality do not examine the race-specific dimensions of occupational segregation. Using personnel data, we examine the impact
of race-gender occupational segregation on occupational grading and
wage setting within a service and maintenance union. Our empirical
results show that the job grading and wage setting processes significantly favor white men's jobs and penalize black women's jobs.

As we approach the close of the twentieth century, gender-based job

segregation remains a defining characteristic of United States labor markets. Although there exist varied and conflicting explanations of this
phenomenon, researchers tend to agree that the ongoing presence of a
gendered division of labor results in gender wage inequality. Explanations notwithstanding, sex-based job segregation has generated a hierarchal divison of labor characterized by an overwhelming percentage of
single-sex occupations. Of the 503 occupational categories included in
the 1980 census, 187 were either 90 percent female or 90 percent male;
likewise, an additional 275 occupations were either 80 percent female or
80 percent male. 1
This article explores race and gender occupational segregation and its
impact on job grading and wage determination in Local 35, the service
and maintenance union at Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut).
Local 35 is less well-known than Local 34, Yale's clerical and technical
workers' union, whose 1984 strike received national media coverage.
The article briefly reviews the literature on job segregation and proposes
a more inclusive analytical framework that incorporates the effects of

6O

The Review of Black Political Economy/Winter 1990

white male agency in maintaining a racially-mediated gender division of

labor. It provides an overview of Locals 34 and 35, examines the race/
gender occupational composition of workers in Local 35, and tests several hypotheses about 35's job allocation and wage determination processes using personnel data compiled by the university. Our primary
finding is that an occupation's race-gender composition determines its
salary grade which, in turn, determines the wage. The final section discusses the implications of race and gender discrimination in Local 35.
THEORETICAL REVIEW

Our reading of sex segregation studies suggests that they suffer from
two important limitations. First, prevailing feminist theories of gender
wage inequality have marginalized the experiences of black, Latino, and
Asian-American women by ignoring the racial divisions among working
women. At best these studies offer a cursory comment or two upon the
severe restraints that occupational segregation imposes upon "racial ethnic" women. At worst, we are regarded as if our experiences were
identical to those of white women. 2 Adding to this weakness, traditional
models of occupational segregation by sex tend to emphasize the actual
division between "women's" work and " m e n ' s " work without exploring the means and ends of male agency within the working class. With
several notable and recent exceptions, 3 the literature has not considered
male workers as purposeful subjects who discriminate against women to
construct and preserve intraclass male privilege. Hartmann's groundbreaking discussion of the economic benefits that male workers secure by
extending patriarchal social relations into the labor market demonstrated
the importance of men's role in restricting women to occupational spheres
that offer limited economic rewards. 4 Distancing herself from traditional
theories of prefeminist Marxism, Hartmann argues that working class
men are influential shapers of both the social division of labor and the
gendered wage hierarchy.
While incisive, Hartmann shares the aforementioned limitation: she
disregards the experiences of African-American women and hence fails to
consider how specificially white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy confines many black women to the dirtiest, most back-breaking, unrewarding, low-paying, menial, and insecure jobs. Evelyn Nakano Glenn captures those aspects of racial ethnic women's working patterns that render
incomplete Hartmann's patriarchy model of gender occupational
segregation. 5 Glenn suggests that Marxist-feminist analyses which dis-

Williams and Smith

61

tinguish between " d o m e s t i c " and wage labor must be modified when
applied to African-American women. Consider black women domestics,
for whom the white home is the public sphere. Clearly, both the divisions
and the degree to which women are identified with the public, private, or
familial spheres "vary by class and ethnicity . . .,,6
Ruth Milkman's early work also theoretically erases African-American
women. 7 She does, however, offer a useful expansion of Hartmann's
observation that unions have been the principal mechanism by which
white male workers have excluded white women from high-paying jobs
and prevented their access to training and apprentice programs. Milkman
instructively focuses our attention on the post-World War II period during
which CIO unions colluded with management to sex-segregate the labor
force and openly negotiated contracts to discriminate against women. 8
While cogently demonstrating that the exclusion of women from unions
contributed to the gender division of labor and the creation of a wage
hierarchy that adversely affected women, Milkman maintains that increased union participation remains an important strategy for women
seeking to achieve economic equality:
The labor movement must be central to any challenge to the established system of sexual segregation in the labor market, if such a
challenge is to have any chance of success. The history of union
participation in the construction and reproduction of job segregation
by sex means not that the labor movement should be dismissed as
incorrigible, but that it must be c h a l l e n g e d . . , to act as an instrument for eradicating sexual inequality at work. 9
We would add, however, that the racial mediation of gender inequality
must also be challenged. As Milkman and others observe, unions distinguish among their members according to race and sex. 10 That which is
required, and provided by this investigation, is a more comprehensive
analysis of race/gender employment hierarchies among contemporary unionized workers. In contrast to the aforementioned models of job segregation
by sex, this article accords primacy to the processes by which white male
workers capture the upper tiers of the wage hierarchy within a unionized
setting; hence we focus not on the exclusion of women from unions but
the intra-union confinement of black women to specific occupations and
the determination of wages in those jobs. Using a case study to generate
data, we consider how the job allocation process incorporates race and
gender privilege in the determination of wages; in particular we are con-

62

The Review of Black Political Economy/Winter 1990

cerned with the impact of white supremacy and male privilege on the
economic status of black women within Local 35.11
L O C A L S 34 AND 35: A BRIEF H I S T O R Y

With a workforce totalling more than 7500, Yale University is New

Haven's largest and wealthiest employer. Of that number, more than half
are classified as staff and are employed as either clerical and technical
workers (C&Ts) or service and maintenance workers (S&Ms). Though
not directly responsible for conducting classroom education and research,
both the C&Ts and the S&Ms play an integral role in insuring that the
university functions smoothly during the course of its daily operation.
Custodians, housekeepers, pantry workers, and cooks are just a few of
the workers who arrive at Yale before dawn each morning. Throughout
the day and night, hundreds of employees--including accounting assistants, cashiers, desk attendants, secretaries, page operators, library assistants, and lab technicians--work diligently within Yale's ivy-covered
halls.
Yet the university has been anything but generous to its staff employees on payday. Consider, for example, Yale's fiscal position in 1983. The
university reported a surplus of $35 million over operating costs, all of
which was poured back into an endowment of more than $1.1 billion,
while paying the average C&T only $13,567. The year 1984 offered no
improvement for C&Ts -- eighty percent of whom were, and still are,
female; the average salary for white men totalled $14,324 while black
men and white women were paid $12,813 and 13,408, respectively.
Black women trailed behind all race/sex groups, receiving only $12,603.
Later during that same year, in an effort to demand "respect" from
Yale in the form of a living wage, the C&Ts launched a bold campaign
to gain union representation. Though earlier attempts to unionize had
been stymied by the university, the C&Ts succeeded and were incorporated into Local 34. Less than five months after the approximately 2,600
C&Ts formed Local 34, more than two-thirds went on strike as efforts to
negotiate their first contract with the university came to an impasse.
During the course of the two-month strike, the C&Ts received support
from many individuals and communities, but their greatest ally was Local
35.
Local 35, or a variation thereof, has existed on the Yale campus since
the late 1930s. After five strikes of its own, Local 35 was well-versed in

Williams and Smith

63

Average Hourly
GRADE
1

Wage

T A B L E la
Within Salary Grade, by Race and

BF

WF

7.56

7.42

t.

3
4

7.59
8.06

5
6
7

8.06

9.36
9.56
9.90

10.05

1 0

**

eL

7.72
7.96
8.09
9.40
**
**
8.87
10.00

1 1

**

11.63

1 2

**
.
12.38
.
.
.

11.91

1 3
1
1
1
1

4
5
6
7

BF = Black female
WF = White female

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

**

BM
7.60
t*

7.60
*~
8.08
**
9.66
10.08
10.05
10.22
**
12.18
12.13
12.38
12.11
12.81
13.24

Sex

WM
7.48
at

7.65
7.96
8,02
9,36
9,87
10,40
**
10.35

11.63
12.32
12.17
12.42
11.54
12.81
13.18

BM = Black male
WM = White male

Note:

**Indicates that no member of race/gender group is employed in grade.

Source:

All data from Yale University Personnel Files.

Yale's management policy and strike-breaking techniques. The contentious relationship with the university convinced the leaders of Local 35
that the presence of a second union would increase their bargaining leverage. Consequently, Local 35 spearheaded several of the earlier attempts to unionize the C&Ts. From the moment 34 threatened to strike in
the fall of 1984, the blue collar workers of 35, the majority of whom were
male, joined forces with the white-collar female workers of 34. The
partnership between Locals 34 and 35 flourished and embodied the enduring spirit of solidarity and cooperation that often characterizes the
American labor movement. One observer noted that the alliance "sensitized," the male workers of Local 35 "to the issue of sex discrimination
[in] the workplace. ''12 We suggest, however, that the willingness of
workers in 3.5 to confront white and male privilege must not be gauged in

64

The Review of Black Political Economy/Winter 1990

TABLE lb
Average Seniority Within Salary Grade, By Race and Sex

GRADE
1

BF

WF

BM

WM

8.42

6.80

6.69

5.36

t~

4
5
6
7
8
9
0
1
2
3

4
5
6

7
BF = Black female
WF = White female

8.57
26.28
13.48
15.17
9.17
16.08
20.92
**
**
**
.
23.83
.
.
.

8.12
19.83
4.06
11.48
**
**
13.21
6.06
13.33
6.33
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

**

tt

6.55
**
12.55
**
9.40
16.67
15.75
13.41
**
14.99
21.88
20.25
14.73
26.37
18.26

tt

7.18
10.93
7.61
8.67
8.73
14.48
**
6.17
6.48

12.64
12.65
24.23
10.43
15.94
14.67

BM = Black male
WM = White male

Note: **Indicatesthat no memberof race/gender group is employedin grade.

Source: All data from Yale University Personnel Files.
isolation f r o m the experience o f black and white w o m e n workers within
the confines o f 35 itself.
THE RACE AND GENDER DISTRIBUTION OF W O R K AND W A G E S
IN L O C A L 35

W h e r e a s L o c a l 3 4 ' s m e m b e r s h i p is 80 percent f e m a l e and o v e r 80

percent white, Local 35 is far m o r e heterogeneous. O f the a p p r o x i m a t e l y
1000 workers represented b y L o c a l 35 (excluding student workers), 33
percent are w o m e n ; black w o m e n account for 60 percent of all w o m e n or
20 percent of L o c a l 3 5 ' s total m e m b e r s h i p . There are 380 white m a l e s
(the largest race/sex group) and 265 black males in 35. Although the
workers t h e m s e l v e s are racially diverse, their jobs are highly segregated
along gender and racial lines.*

Williams and Smith

65

TABLE 2

Local 35 Means by Race and Sex

Total number
Percentage
Years of high school
Hourly wage
Salary grade
Seniority

BLACK
WOMEN

WHITE
WOMEN

210
20.6
2.49
7.73
2.29
9.27

135
13.2
2.87
8.01
3.47
8.15

BLACK
MEN
265
26.0
2.52
8.92
5.99
10.3

WHITE
MEN
380
37.2
2,99
11.23
11.85
12.04

Source: All data from Yale University Personnel Files.

Local 35 has 62 major classifications 13 (see appendix la); any job title
held by 60 percent or more of one gender was classified as either a male
job or a female job. Additionally, any job comprised of 60 percent or
more of one race/gender group was classified as either a black female,
white female, black male, or white male job. Of the initial 68 job titles
in Local 35, an astonishing 60 are male or female jobs. A closer examination reveals that only 8 of those 60 jobs are female jobs, while the
remaining 52 are male jobs. Moreover, race further segregates jobs along
gender lines within Local 3 5 : 3 7 of the 62 job titles are white male jobs;
8 are black male jobs; and black females and white females comprise the
majority of workers in 3 and 2 of the 62 jobs, respectively (see appendix
lb).
The job titles are categorized into 17 salary grades (numbered 1 through
17 with grade 17 being the highest) which set the pay scale range for each
occupation. Within each salary grade, wages tend to converge among
race/gender groups (see Table la) and intra-occupational wage parity 14 is
common. 15 However, racial and gender wage inequality remain when
one looks at aggregate wages; black females receive an average hourly
wage of $7.73 compared with $8.01 for white women, $8.92 for black
men, and $11.23 for white men (see Table 2). Our objective was to
explain black women's low relative wages.
Table 2 reveals that the race-gender education gaps are rather modest;
education levels range between an average of 2.5 years of high school for
black females and 3 years of high school for white males. Local 35's
seniority differentials are more substantial; white men lead black men and
women in seniority, while white women have logged the fewest years at
Yale. However, it is worth noting that in seven of the eight grades where
both white men and black women appear, black women have more se-

66

The Review of Black Political EconomyfWinter 1990

TABLE 3
Salary Grade Distribution of Local 35
Workers by Race and Sex

GRADE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

BLACK
WOMEN
112
0
78
3
5
2
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0

WHITE
WOMEN
24
0
85
2
3
8
0
0
2
7
1
1
0
0
0
0
0

BLACK
MEN

WHITE
MEN

22
0
136
0
22
0
13
6
1
8
0
9
8
7
5
9
16

11
0
61
12
19
1
5
4
0
26
4
16
20
15
7
6
170

Source:All data fromYale UniversityPersonnelFiles.

niority than their white male counterparts (see Table lb). If union wages
reflect seniority, then black women's seniority advantage should afford
them higher wages. However, if we consider grades 4 through 6 we find
that black women's substantial seniority advantage does not translate into
significantly higher hourly wages (see Tables la and lb).
In addition, Table 3 reveals that Local 35's salary structure is remarkably stratified; specifically, white men are overwhelmingly concentrated
in the highest salary grades. Seventy percent of white males work in jobs
with a salary grade of 10 or higher and 45 percent of all white males work
in the highest salary grade, 17. They represent 100 percent of all boiler
operators, carpenters, gardeners, chefs, fire control mechanics, fire inspectors, glaziers, locksmiths, masons, and sheet metal mechanics. Likewise, at least 90 percent of all plumbers, watch engineers, electricians,
and controls mechanics are white males. In stark contrast, 90 percent of
black females, 80 percent of white females, and 60 percent of black males
work in the lowest three salary grades. Only 16 of the 265 black males

67

Williams and Smith

TABLE 4a
Salary Grade: Regression Results

variable

coefficient

t-statistic

seniority

.258

14.36

high sch.

.367

4.25

sex

5.210

17.64

race

3.841

13.66

- 1.940

-4.81

constant
N=990

F=242.6

Adjusted R2=0.49

work in grade 17, and there are no women in the highest three salary
grades and just ten in grades 10 through 14. Among race/gender groups,
black women bear the economic brunt of race and gender job segregation;
53 percent of all black women work in the lowest grade as light custodians. The subordinated status of black women, who can claim neither
the economic privilege of whiteness nor maleness, is largely attributable
to their confinement to low paying occupations which bear an uncanny
resemblance to "domestic" work. Moreover, it appears that the construction of certain jobs as "black women's occupations" plays a crucial
factor in determining low salary grades for these jobs.
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
The data presented show that 1) white males dominate the wage hierarchy; 2) there are white male, black male, white female, and black
female jobs; 3) holding salary grade constant, black females average
more seniority than other workers and 4) education levels are fairly constant across race/sex groups. We now consider the relationship between
the race-gender composition of specific jobs and the salary grades of
those jobs. Specifically, we hypothesize that black female jobs pay less

68

The Review of Black Political Economy/Winter 1990

TABLE 4b
Log Wage: Reduced Form Wage Equation

variable

coefficient

t-statistic

seniority

0.005

15.32

high sch.

0.006

3.49

sex

0,078

14.29

race

0.064

12.26

constant

0.808

106.91

N=990

F=201.9

Adjusted R2=0.44

than white male jobs and the assignment of salary grades to occupations
mediates the effects of race and gender in the wage hierarchy. The outcome of this process is that certain job titles have high grades because of
the race and gender of the job incumbents. Whereas traditional theory
suggests that black women earn lower wages because they are crowded
into "low-waged j o b s , " we contend that low-waged jobs, in part, are
defined as such because they are held by black women. Consequently, we
conjecture that the majority of black women do not earn high wages both
because they are excluded from high waged jobs (i.e., white male jobs)
and because their work is devalued. 16
To evaluate this claim, we developed two simple wage regression
models. In Model 1 wages (w) are a function of salary grade (g), seniority
(sen), years of high school (hs), race (r), and sex (s) [*race and sex are
dummy variables; r = 1 for white and r = 0 for black. Similarly, s = 1 for
male and s = 0 for female].

Equation 1: w = f (g, sen, hs, r, s)

Because salary grade is endogenous, we first gauged the impact of seniority, high school, race, and sex on salary grade.

Equation 2: g = f (sen, hs, r, s)

Williams and Smith

69

TABLE 4c
Log Wage: 2SLS Regression Results

variable

coefficient

t-statistic

predx

0,015

7.11

seniority

0,001

2.37

sex

-0.001

-0.09

race

0:005

0.60

constant

0.837

130.67

N--990

F=201.9

Adjusted R2=0.44

Using Equation 2 we created an instrument for grade, redefined as predx,

which we used in a two-stage least square regression.

Equation 3: w = f ~oredx, sen, r, s)

We also estimated a reduced form wage equation, which excludes salary
grade as a right-hand side variable. Tables 4a and 4c present the results
for Equations 2 and 3, respectively. Table 4b presents the reduced form. 17
Model 2 tests the hypothesis that, ceteris paribus, a job's race-gender
composition is a significant determinant of the job holder's wage. Herein,
we deploy Appendix lb's race-gender job groupings to define four vectors of dummy variables. For example, if a worker holds a black woman' s
job, then B F J = 1; if not, B F J = 0 ; the other dummy variables (WMJ,
WFJ, and BMJ) were similarly constructed. Again, we began with a
reduced form grade equation from which we calculated the instrument
predx. Table 5a reports the findings of the salary grade estimation. The
results of the reduced form wage regression and the two stage least square
regression are reported in Tables 5b and 5c, respectively.
DISCUSSION
The results strongly support the proposition that Local 35's wagesetting process perpetuates white male supremacy. Table 4a's traditional
dummy variable specification demonstrates that, ceteris paribus, race and

70

The Review of Black Political Economy/Winter 1990

TABLE 5a
Salary Grade: Regression Results

variable

coefficient

t-statistic

seniority

0.014

13.04

high sch.

0.126

1.87

BFJ

-3.663

-11.15

WFJ

-0.609

-0.87

BMJ

-0.417

-1.37

WMJ

8.21

28.76

2.977

8.70

constant
N=990

F--384.9

Adjusted R2=0.69

sex are important determinants of salary grade. Yet, this specification

precludes a precise consideration of job segregation's impact on salary
grading. Table 5a shows that the race/gender attributes of job incumbents
significantly influence salary grade assignment. Specifically, "black women's jobs," "white women's jobs," "black men's jobs" are downgraded, although only BFJ's coefficient is large and statistically significant. Indeed, only WMJ's coefficient is larger; moreover, it is positively
significant. As expected, both seniority and high school are significant in
Models 1 and 2, although Model 2's high school coefficient falls below
the 5 percent significance level. It is also worth noting that Model 2's
salary grade equation yields a surprisingly large R 2 given that we are
analyzing cross-section data.
Our reduced form wage equations demonstrate seniority's continued
significance, though the coefficient drops considerably and loses its significance from Model 1 to 2. The high school coefficient again drops
below the range of significance in Model 2's reduced form wage equation. Most important, however, the race and gender job coefficient reveals the existence of substantial wage premiums for workers employed
in white men's jobs. In sharp contrast, employment in a black woman's
job exacts a burdensome wage penalty. White women's jobs pay a small,

Williams and Smith

71

TABLE 5b
Log Wage: Reduced Form Results

variable

coefficient

t-statistic

seniority

0.041

3.98

high sch.

0.002

1.30

BFJ

-0.038

-5.71

WFJ

0.012

0.82

BMJ

-0.011

-1.75

WMJ

0.142

25.13

constant

0.879

129.32

N=990

F=280.3

Adjusted R2--0.62

though statistically insignificant premium; workers in black men's jobs

do not reap the traditional benefits of having a "man's job." These
results strongly suggest that researchers and strategists must be more
precise in their discussions of " m e n ' s jobs" and "women's jobs"; we
must indicate which men and women we have in mind. We cannot, in
other words, overlook the racial dimensions of job segregation.
Both two-stage regressions confirm the relevance of the salary grade/
wage connection in Local 35's wage-setting process. Our instrumented
salary grade variable (predx) captures and transmits the wage effects of
race-gender job segregation. Interestingly enough, only white women's
jobs reap an additional bonus in the two-stage model. This result, when
viewed in the context of our reduced form results, suggests the existence
of a race-specific bargaining power within the union.
CONCLUSION
Our findings strongly suggest that Local 35's wage setting process
reproduces white supremacy within the union. All else equal, white men's
jobs receive significant and large wage and grade premiums. White women's jobs earn a wage premium, even after controlling for job grade.

72

The Review of Black Political Economy/Winter 1990

TABLE 5c
Log Wage: 2SLS Regression Results
variable

coefficient

t-statistic

Predx

0.014

2.29

seniority

0.001

1.31

BFJ

0.013

0.59

WFJ

0.020

2.29

BMJ

-0.004

-1.10

WMJ

0.029

0.05

constant

0.838

39.94

N=990

F=280.3

Adjusted R2=0.62

The wage-setting process significantly downgrades black women's jobs.

Black men's jobs are graded lower and suffer a wage penalty, although
the relevant coefficients are not significant at standard levels.
Because neither of our models includes measures of job-specific skills,
the race/gender job coefficients could be arguably biased. However, many
crafts workers receive their training on the job or in apprenticeship programs. Inclusion of skill variables might change our parameter estimates;
it would not, however, explain black women's exclusion from training
"ports of entry." Local 35's leadership has not, to date, been in the
vanguard of occupational integration advocates, thus suggesting an acceptance of the status quo. Indeed, the longstanding tradition of white
male exclusivity in American craft unions leads us to believe that Local
35's occupational structure is a contemporary manifestation of age-old
race/gender discrimination within the working class.
Black women seeking to raise their earnings within the union could
pursue a "living wage" strategy, although this too would challenge the
existing wage hierarchy. Although black men are more evenly distributed
throughout the job classifications than are the women, their jobs do not
earn a wage premium; hence, they too would benefit from a renegotiation

Williams and Smith

73

o f the d i v i s i o n o f l a b o r a n d w a g e - s e t t i n g p r o c e s s . R e c a l l i n g M i l k m a n , i f
b l a c k w o m e n w i s h to u s e L o c a l 35 as a n i n s t r u m e n t f o r e r a d i c a t i n g
g e n d e r - s p e c i f i c r a c i a l d i s c r i m i n a t i o n , t h e y m u s t c h a l l e n g e its j o b g r a d i n g
and wage setting policies,
NOTES

The authors wish to thank Joseph Vitelli for his assistance in collecting the data for this
study.
1. Barbara F. Reskin and Heidi I. Hartmann (eds.), Women's Work, Men's Work: Sex
Segregation on the Job (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986), pp. 10-11.
2. Exceptions to the pattern of ignoring the racial divisions among women are Augustin K. Fosu, "Explaining Post-1964 Earnings Gains By Black Women: Race or Sex?,"
The Review of Black Political Economy, Vol 15:3 (Winter 1987), pp. 41-55; Julianne
Malveaux, "Recent Trends in Occupational Segregation by Race and Sex," paper presented to the Committee on Women's Employment and Related Social Issues, National
Academy of Sciences (1982) and "The Political Economy of Black Women," in M.
Davis, M. Marable, M. Sprinker, and F. Pfeil (eds.), The Year Left: An American
Socialist Yearbook: Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender (Verso, 1987); Evelyn Nakano
Glenn, "Racial Ethnic Women's Labor: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Class
Oppression," Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol 17 (1985), pp. 86-108.
3. See e.g., Heidi Hartmann, "Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Job Segregation by Sex,"
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol 1:2 (1976), pp. 137-169; Ruth
Milkman, "Organizing the Sexual Division of Labor: Historical Perspectives on 'Women's Work' and the American Labor Movement," Socialist Review (1980); Barbara
Reskin, "Bringing the Men Back In: Sex Differentiation and the Devaluation of Women's
Work," Gender and Society, Vol 2 (1988), pp. 58-81; Samuel Bowles and Herbert
Gintis, Democracy and Capitalism: Property, Community, and the Contradictions of
Modern Social Thought (New York: Basic Books, 1986); Rhonda,Williams, "Beyond
Human Capital: Black Women, Work, and Wages," Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Working Paper No. 183, (1988); Barbara Bergmann, The Economic
Emergence of Women (New York: Basic Books, 1986).
4. Hartmann, "Capitalism; Patriarchy, and Job Segregation by Sex."
5. Glenn, "Racial Ethnic Women's Labor."
6. Ibid., p. 102.
7. Milkman, "Organizing the Sexual Division of Labor."
8. Ibid., pp. 134-141.
9. Ibid., p. 144.
10. Herbert Hill, "Race and Ethnicity in Organized Labor: The Historical Sources of
Resistance to Affirmative Action," Journal of Intergroup Relations, Vol 12 (Winter
1984), pp. 5-49, and Black Labor and the American Legal System: Race, Work, and the
Law (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985); Karl Klare, "The Quest for Industrial Democracy and the Struggle Against Racism: Perspectives from Labor Law and
Civil Rights Law," Oregon Law Review, Vol 61 (1982), pp. 15%200.
11. For more detailed theoretical discussion of job competition among workers see
Williams, "Beyond Human Capital," (1988) and "Capital, Competition, and Discrimination: A Reconsideration of Racial Earnings Inequality," Review of Radical Political
Economics, Vol 17:2 (1987); William A. Darity Jr. and Rhonda M. Williams, "Peddlers
Forever?: Culture, Competition, and Discrimination," American Economic Review, Vol.

74

The Review of Black Political Economy/Winter 1990

75 (1985), pp. 256-261; Darity, "What's Left of the Economic Theory of Discrimination?" in Steven Shulman and William Darity, Jr. (eds.), The Question of Discrimination,
(Wesleyan, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1989).
12. Toni Gilpin, Gary Isaac, Dan Letwin, and Jack McKivigan, On Strike for Respect:
The Yale Strike of 1984-1985 (Chicago: Charles Kerr Publishing, 1988), p. 55.
* Because Hispanics and Asian Americans are less than 3 percent of Local 35's Yale
employees, they were not included in this study.
13. The initial number of job classifications in Local 35 totalled sixty-eight. Six of
these jobs had very few employees and were virtually identical in title to six other
occupations that had greater numbers of employees. Consequently, we combined those
jobs that were similar in job title to form sixty-two major occupations.
14. Data on gender/race wages within job titles are available from authors upon request.
15. According toReskin and Hartmann (1986), most of the aggregate gender wage gap
in the United States is due to intra-occupational wage disparities across firms. In other
words, women tend to earn less than men not because they are employed in different
occupations but because they work in low wage firms whereas men, employed in the same
occupations, work in high wage firms. Within individual firms, however, the wages of
men and women employed in the same occupations tend to converge and the bulk of the
gender wage-gap is, in fact, the result of interoccupational wage inequality.
16. See Reskin, "Bringing the Men Back In" (1988) for a recent discussion of the
devaluation of women's work. For an excellent discussion on how port of entry mechanisms operate to channel workers into race and gender segregated jobs in a university
setting, see Beth Ann Shelton, "Racial Discrimination at Initial Labor Market Access,"
National Journal of Sociology, Vol 1:1 (Spring 1987), pp. 101-117.
17. Our SPSSx regression package consistently omitted the high school variable (hs)
from the 2SLS regression, which means that this equation suffers from specification error.
However, we are comforted by the small magnitude of the 'hs' coefficient in the reduced
form of Model 1 and its insignificance in Model 2's reduced form. Hence, Tables 5b and
5c have our greatest confidence.

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