Yes, I know, from the frying pan into the fire!
Anyway, I can categorically state that there is no wage disparity between men and women. All our job titles come with a salary range (adjusted for geographical area) and make no distinction between gender, race or anything else.
Also, the contention that any reputable company would want to "lowball" a new hire by finding out what their current salary is and tying the offer to that is ridiculous when you think about it. The likely reason people apply to work at my company is that they want to better their current circumstances and further their career. The last thing we want to do is lowball our offers and bring people on board only to have them immediately seek higher paying work elsewhere once they find out what others are making in their position (and they will find out). The first 6 months of a typical new hire is mostly absorbed by training. We want these people to stay and make careers with us. So we pay competitive salaries commensurate with their skill levels.
Already our hiring practices are constrained by the government. We have to report on the amount of "minorities" we interview and then explain why we didn't hire them over some more qualified people. We want to be able to hire the best and brightest regardless of race and gender but government fights against that and tries to get us to take lesser qualified minorities at the expense of more qualified candidates. Once those minorities are hired, it is also much tougher to move them out if they don't work out.
I'm tired of the whole "minority" thing anyhow. Women are actually in the majority if you look at population statistics. I also think it's time to stop thinking of Asians, Hispanics and Blacks as "minorities" as they are well established in our nation and in very large numbers. In fact, Blacks have been here as long as White Europeans. Enough of the "minority" status already. Unless you personally came off the boat, you are an American. I don't care whether your parents, your grand-parents or your great-grandparents came off the boat.
If you were born here, you are an American and you are expected to speak good English and be just as qualified to obtain a job that you are qualified for as anybody else - and be paid the same salary range for that job as anybody else.
You raise an excellent point.
If you think this Massachusetts law is overreaching, take a look at OFCCP. Most laymen don’t have a clue what that is anyhow.
A lot of hot air and you didn’t answer the question to whether it is ethical to ask salary history.