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Gender Equity in the Workplace

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Despite gains in the workplace over recent decades, women continue to receive lower pay, experience lower workforce participation, and may miss career advancement opportunities due to motherhood. RAND's research has examined the challenges and discrimination women face in many settings, including the military, the health care sector, and emergency services, as well as the impact of parenting and family life on career outcomes.

Commentary
A Promising Era for Women of Color in U.S. Elections, but Gains in Broader Workplace Leadership Remain Elusive
Women of color remain significantly underrepresented in workplace leadership and along the promotion pipeline in comparison to white women, as well as to black and white men. How much more work needs to be done to achieve the combination of race and gender equity in leadership?
Mar 22, 2022
Report
Promoting Equity in Entrepreneurship Could Lift U.S. Economy
Entrepreneurial support for women and racial and ethnic minorities has the potential to improve wealth accumulation among these groups. It could also revitalize communities where minority business owners are located and boost economic growth by unlocking the talent of would-be entrepreneurs.
Aug 3, 2021

Explore Gender Equity in the Workplace

Report
Demographic Diversity of the DoD STEM Workforce
Within the Department of Defense's STEM workforce, which demographic groups are subject to the greatest compensation disparity when compared with white men? What measures can the Pentagon take to address these discrepancies?
Apr 27, 2023
Report
Talent Management and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of the Air Force: Qualitative Review of Programs, Practices, and Partnerships
Researchers conduct a qualitative literature review and interviews with subject-matter experts to identify the Department of the Air Force's existing and planned efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in its military force.
Mar 9, 2023
Report
Talent Management and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Private-Sector Organizations: A Qualitative Review of Promising Practices
Researchers reviewed academic literature and conducted interviews with private-sector organizations to identify promising practices in support of the Department of the Air Force's goal of building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce.
Feb 23, 2023
Report
Benchmarking Demographic Diversity in Air Force Functional Areas Against Near-Equivalent Civilians: The Air Force Occupational Diversity Benchmarking Workbooks
To allow decisionmakers to discover potential barriers to a diverse and inclusive workforce, the authors created a method to measure diversity in the Department of the Air Force occupations using near-equivalent civilian occupations as benchmarks.
Feb 22, 2023
Report
Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Considerations into the 2021 Department of the Air Force Developmental Education Selection Boards: Analysis of Outcomes
Although demographic data have been masked for most Air Force boards adjudicating career development and promotions, the 2021 Central Professional Military Education Program Boards provided an opportunity to test the effects of unmasking the data.
Dec 20, 2022
Brochure
Social Value and RAND Europe
We define social value as "the difference we make to the communities which we operate within". This brochure describes our commitment to social value through the behaviours we embed in our practices, as well as the research and analysis we conduct.
Oct 12, 2022
Tool
Addressing Disparities in the U.S. Military
Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in military career success and representation are a long-standing problem. To help inform efforts to address this, researchers created the Military Demographic Equity Machine tool.
Sep 6, 2022
News Release
Fewer FEMA Employees Experienced Workplace Harassment or Discrimination in 2021 than 2019; More Progress Needed
The risk of FEMA employees experiencing harassment or discrimination in 2021 was significantly less than in 2019, but one in five employees still experienced at least one civil rights violation during the preceding year.
Aug 24, 2022
Report
Harassment and Discrimination at FEMA Is Declining, but More Progress Is Needed
About one in five FEMA employees surveyed experienced at least one gender-based/sexual or race/ethnicity–based civil rights violation in the past year. This is an improvement since 2019, but how can FEMA further its efforts to develop and maintain a workplace in which all employees are treated with professionalism and respect?
Aug 24, 2022
Journal Article
Leak or Link? the Overrepresentation of Women in Non-Tenure-Track Academic Positions in STEM
This paper examines gender variation in departures from the tenure-track science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) academic career pathway to non-tenure-track academic careers.
Jul 7, 2022
Commentary
Putin's Actions in Ukraine Are Spilling North
The decision of seven Arctic countries to suspend collaborative work with Russia in the Arctic is by far the most severe and consequential break in cooperation the region has ever seen. This breakdown of Arctic diplomacy could have several important impacts on the region and could potentially threaten the United States as well as its allies.
Mar 30, 2022
Blog
Insights on Russia's War in Ukraine, Global Citizenship, Vaccination Equity: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on Russia's war on Ukraine, medication treatment for patients with opioid use disorder, promoting global citizenship in America, and more.
Mar 25, 2022
Testimony
Harassment and Discrimination on the Basis of Gender and Race/Ethnicity in the Federal Emergency Management Agency Workforce: Addendum
Document submitted March 3, 2022, as an addendum to testimony before the Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery and Subcommittee on Oversight, Management, and Accountability on January 20, 2022.
Mar 3, 2022
Testimony
Harassment and Discrimination in the FEMA Workforce
Changing organizational culture and climate is no easy task. As the result of an employee survey, FEMA now has an estimate of the prevalence of harassment and discrimination based on sex/gender and race/ethnicity. This data can serve as a yardstick against which to measure change efforts.
Jan 20, 2022
Report
Proceedings of the U.S.-Japan Socioeconomic Policy Research Exchange: The Rise of Telework Under COVID-19 and the Growth of Cryptocurrency
This volume captures insights from two conferences that brought together leading U.S. and Japanese experts to explore the implications of recent growth in teleworking, working from home, cryptocurrency, and blockchain in the United States and Japan.
Jan 5, 2022
Report
Establishing Feeder-Designation Relationships with Colleges and Universities to Increase Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Air Force Officer Accessions
This Perspective presents conceptual design considerations for implementing a feeder system as an enhanced marketing and outreach program to assist the U.S. Air Force with increasing racial and ethnic diversity in officer accessions.
Dec 30, 2021
Report
How Effective Are Blinding Concepts and Practices to Promote Equity in the Department of the Air Force?
The authors discuss the scholarly literature on the efficacy of blinding strategies, how these insights apply to Department of the Air Force (DAF) goals, and possible steps for the DAF to advance its goal of a more equitable and inclusive workforce.
Dec 30, 2021
Blog
Gender Pay Gap Among Doctors, America's Labor Shortage, 'Hacking Equity': RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the pay gap between female and male doctors, understanding America’s weird job market, social and emotional learning, and more.
Dec 17, 2021
Journal Article
Female Physicians Earn $2 Million Less Than Male Physicians Over Their Careers
RAND researchers used data from 80,342 full-time U.S. physicians to estimate career differences in income between men and women. They found that, over a simulated 40-year career, female physicians earned about $2 million less than male physicians.
Dec 10, 2021

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RAND Topic:
Gender Equity in the Workplace

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Leslie Adrienne Payne

Political Scientist

Leslie Adrienne Payne (she/her) is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation with a combined background in social and political science and qualitative research methods. Since 2012, much of her research has focused on terrorism and counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and civilian-military…
Yael Katz

Policy Analyst

Yael Katz (she/her) is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. She most recently completed an IPA with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau where she researched reservists and their SCRA rights. Katz is an IES WWC certified reviewer. She has worked on a variety of different topics at RAND,…

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