SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE LABOUR MARKET.

It is the purpose of this paper to inform the debate on sexual equality by reference to the economic analysis of discrimination, which has by no means figured prominently in the public discussion of the issue. This to some extent may be explained by the fact that no detailed British analysis of the economics of discrimination exists, despite a mushrooming of the American literature on the subject (which is mainly but not exclusively devoted to racial discrimination).[1] The first part of the paper attempts to analyze differences in employment activity in the labour force between the sexes and to examine how far these may explain sex wage differentials. This enables us to define more precisely what constitutes (pure) discrimination in the second section which surveys various economic models of discrimination, analyses them in terms of their applicability to sexual discrimination, and derives various propositions. In the third section statistical evidence is examined in relation to these propositions in so far as this is possible given the availability of data.[2] Finally, certain implications are drawn from the analysis in comparing the likely effects of equal pay and anti-discrimination legislation on the operation of the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]