The Equal Pay Act of 1963 ensures that men and women are paid equally. It further clarifies this requirement by considering factors such as skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions. Additionally, it prohibits against discrimination to jobs within an establishment (EEOC). However, since inception, the Equal Pay Act has yet to end inequality in pay between men and women. Institutionalism suggests that rules and norms are affected by action arenas in three distinct levels of decision making and focuses on “understanding the formal and informal rules that affect behavior in the action arena” (Polski & Ostrom, 1999). Since the Equal Pay Act has been implemented, the formal rules have been interpreted at the operational level resulting …show more content…
Additionally, the authors suggest that there are seven types of rules-in-use that should be considered: position, boundary, authority, aggregation, scope, information, and payoff. The two rules that apply to the ineffectiveness of pay equity between men and women are information and payoff. Information rules suggest that the amount and type of information available affects the behavior of the actors; however, the participants’ rational behavior may result in “constraints on their ability to process information, but they may also be influenced by norms or other cultural values” (McGinnis, 2011, p. 53). Public interest in the Equal Pay Act has raised awareness on pay equity and the measurements applied to evaluate the outcomes. Therefore, the information that exists has increased responsiveness from women but has caused men to become defensive. Payoff rules determine costs and benefits to actors in the action situation. Women associate the cost of continuing to fight for equality with a benefit of increased pay. Men, on the other hand, have no associated cost or benefit with equitable pay. The employer may receive increased costs with decreased benefits, or vice versa, resulting in disinterest in upholding the