Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action (AA) are two of the most controversial legislative initiatives since the abolition of slavery. Employers have radically changed their personnel systems in reaction to these laws, billions of dollars have been invested in "diversity management," federal courts have endorsed selected strategies for responding to changes associated with EEO and AA regulations and rulings, and federal agencies have defined certain compliance measures as "best practices." But have employers' compliance efforts been at all effective in changing gender and racial inequality? Were they effective in the same way for workers from high-skill and low-skill jobs? And how do these measures work in harsh economic conditions? We have surprisingly little knowledge with which to answer such questions. This research will examine the ways employers' EEO and AA compliance measures affected the integration of women and African Americans in managerial and non-managerial jobs within American work establishments across varying legal, economic and labor market conditions from 1971 to 1999. The analysis will use a unique longitudinal dataset composed of annual Federal EEO-1 reports of the demographic composition of American work establishments, merged with survey data about the life histories of a representative sample of more than 800 of these establishments and supplemented with legal, labor market and economic archival data. Together, these components comprise the best available dataset for analyzing changes in employment inequality over time. This research will contribute to our research and teaching about workplace inequality by: improving our understanding of the impact of EEO/AA law across varying legal, labor market and economic conditions, rather than assuming that one type is inherently better than another; refining organizational theory by identifying mechanisms that produce or reduce sex and racial inequality; and improving upon previous research by using pooled time-series fixed-effects methods. The study's broader impact will be to provide policy makers, civic organizations and organizational consultants with a comprehensive empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of a wide range of EEO/AA compliance measures. This knowledge is key for taking effective steps towards the equal inclusion of women and minorities in American work organizations.
