Labor Market Discrimination against Women with Disabilities

Abstract

This article estimates the extent of wage discrimination and, for the first time, the employment effects of wage discrimination, against women with disabilities. In 1984, more than one‐half of the offer wage differential between disabled and nondisabled women is attributable to discrimination, but the absolute wage differential is small. The results suggest that wage discrimination related to disability tends to be most severe for a relatively small group of women with impairments against which prejudice is most intense. There is a large difference between the employment rates of disabled and nondisabled women but only a small part of the differential is attributable to the disincentive effects of wage discrimination. The results also show that women with disabilities face a double burden of gender‐ and disability‐related discrimination, but do not show that gender‐related discrimination is worse for women who have a disability.