AECO 380 - Gender and Diversity in the Workplace
Study Guide for Final
1. If your wage used to be $10,000 and you got a raise of $2,000. What is the percentage
change in your income?
2. Given the following information: CPI in 1975 = 18 and the CPI in 2002 = 187. If the
price of an apple was $0.42 per pound in 1975 and is $1.99 in 2002, was milk (in real
terms) more expensive in 2002? Show all your work.
3. Using the information from number 9: Was milk (in nominal terms) more expansive in
2002?
4. Comment on the following statement: If wage gaps become smaller overtime, it can be
assumed that women must be making advances within the labor market.
5. As females continue to gain more human capital, can we assume that eventually the wage
gap will become zero?
6. What is atrophy? How does it influence what jobs women tend to choose?
7. How can we use intermittency in labor force participation to explain away some of the
wage gap that usually is attributed to discrimination? Include in your answer a discussion
of the payment for human capital.
8. Draw and explain the earnings-age graph including a decomposition of the wage gap into
it’s non-discriminatory parts. Be sure to include as much detail as possible with your
diagram.
9. What is societal discrimination? How does it shape actions and ideals?
10. How does human capital differ from physical capital?
11. Describe and discuss the Spence Signaling Model? What types of signals does this
model include?
12. Describe and discuss two reasons men and women tend to differ in their investments in
human capital and major area of study.
13. What does Title IX of the Educational Amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964
prohibit? What does it exclude? When doe it not hold?
14. Compare and contrast what is meant by formal and informal on the job training (OJT).
15. Compare and contrast what is meant by job specific and general on the job training
(OJT).
16. What are two ECONOMIC reasons for the wage gap?
17. Discuss three reasons sex segregation in occupations exist. Include in your answer a
detailed explanation of “D”.
18. Discuss why Japan tends to have low levels of occupational segregation and large gender
wage gaps while Sweden tends to have high levels of occupational segregation and small
gender wage gaps.
19. What is vertical segregation? Why is this important to note when talking about gender
wage gaps?
20. Give two examples of illegal interview questions. Explain in each case why the question
is illegal and give an alternative question that could gather similar information for the
firm legally.
21. What is lookism? How is it used in perpetuating discrimination during the interview
process?
22. Discuss four characteristics of applicants (excluding appearance) that can lead to
discrimination during the interview process.
23. How do recruiter characteristics and situational factors lead to discrimination?
24. Compare and contrast a person with a type A personality and a person with a type B
personality.
25. Five theories exist to explain how workplace environments change with an increase in
labor force participation rates of females. Name and explain each theory including how
the environment changes, attitudes towards members of the majority group, and attitudes
of members of the minority group.
26. Two types of relationships exist within the group competition perspective. Draw and
describe each relationship. Be sure to include an example of an economic good that
would fit the relationship.
27. Discuss the four stages of the “gay process”.
28. Discuss, citing examples, the fours types of homophobia.
29. Describe the protection legislation that was attempted for homosexuals. What states were
involved in this legislation? Why did the legislation not pass?
30. Sexual harassment can be defined in three ways: Individual (subjective) perspective,
conceptual (behavior) perspective, and legal perspective. Discuss each in as much detail
as possible.
31. Three dimensions of what causes sexual harassment include: the sexual arousal
explanation, power differences explanation, and integrative explanation. Take each of
these and discuss their significance.
32. Three dimensions of conceptual sexual harassment have been identified. These include
gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion. Discuss each
identifying the importance of job and/or sexual aspects connected to the harassment.
33. Discuss in detail the two types of sexual harassment that a person can experience.
34. How can the firm play a role in whether or not sexual harassment is present within their
organization.
35. Discuss the attributes courts use to prove whether or not a sexual harassment allegation is
true.
36. Discuss job related, psychological, and organizational consequences of sexual
harassment.
37. Discuss the five steps that an individual undergo to identify sexual harassment.
38. What are four reasons that romances in the workplace may be increasing?
39. What are the six qualifications of a romantic relationship. What is the importance of each
qualification?
40. Firms can respond to romantic relationships in the workplace with no response, punitive
action, or positive action. Define each response. Which response would a conservative
firm tend to follow?
41. What is the Equal Pay Act of 1963?
42. What are two drawbacks of equal employment opportunity legislation?
43. What does Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 seek to do? What and when were the
two amendments to this act?
44. What is the difference between disparate treatment and disparate impact?
45. What impact on society has the Equal Pay Act and Title VII had? Explain.
46. How is Affirmative Action defined? What is the government’s role in this policy?
47. In what two ways does Affirmative Action differ from other anti-discrimination policies?
48. What ramifications have been found in connection to Affirmative Action?