Comparable worth, as a standard applied to eliminate inequities in pay, insists that the values of certain tasks performed in dissimilar jobs can be compared. In the last decade, this approach has become a critical social policy issue, as large numbers of private-sector firms and industries as well as federal, state, and local governmental entities have adopted comparable worth policies or begun to consider doing so.

This widespread institutional awareness of comparable worth indicates increased public awareness that pay inequities-that is, situations in which pay is not "fair" because it does not reflect the true value of a job-exist in the labor market. However, the question still remains: have the gains already made in pay equity under comparable worth principles been of a precedent-setting nature or are they mostly transitory, a function of concessions made by employers to misled female employees into believing that they have made long-term pay equity gains?

Comparable worth pay adjustments are indeed precedent-setting. Because of the principles driving them, other mandates that can be applied to reduce or eliminate unjustified pay gaps between male and female workers have not remedied perceived pay inequities satisfactorily for the litigants in cases in which men and women hold different jobs. But whenever comparable worth principles are applied to pay schedules, perceived unjustified pay differences are eliminated. In this sense then, comparable worth is more comprehensive than other mandates, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Neither compares tasks in dissimilar jobs (that is, jobs across occupational categories) in an effort to determine whether or not what is necessary to perform these tasks-know-how, problem-solving, and accountability-can be quantified in terms of its dollar value to the employer. Comparable worth, on the other hand, takes as its premise that certain tasks in dissimilar jobs may require a similar amount of training, effort, and skill; may carry similar responsibility; may be carried on in an environment having a similar impact upon the worker; and may have a similar dollar value to the employer.

23.) According to the passage, which of the following is true of comparable worth as a policy?

a. Comparable worth policy decisions in pay-inequity cases have often failed to satisfy the complaints

b. Comparable worth policies have been applied to both public-sector and private-sector employee pay schedules

c. Comparable worth as a policy has come to be widely criticized in the past decade.

d. Many employers have considered comparable worth as a policy but very few have actually adopted id.

e. Early implementations of comparable worth policies resulted in only transitory gains in pay equity.
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agree with B but why should we avoid C? the line just above the bold part conveys C.

thanks kyle, not just words,this is an important insight for me,
+1 for this!

I have a confusion between b and d . if u read the later part of the sentence, can it make d as an answer.. please explain