Women in Oregon make 79 cents for every dollar men make
B Y ALINA HARWAY
The Oregon Council on Civil
Rights recently released its report ex-
ploring the wage gap between men and
women in Oregon.
Its findings show that while Ore-
gon’s current workplace policies and
practices have helped lower the wage
gap below the national average (where
women earn 77 cents for every $1.00
earned by men), Oregon women still
make more than 20 percent less than
Oregon men, on average. For women
of color, the wage gap is more than 40
cents per dollar.
How is it that Oregon — and the na-
tion at large — still have such a long
way to go? From the report:
“The ‘second shift’ of housework
and family care falls more frequently to
women than men. Women are less
likely than men to have access to paid
sick time and paid family leave and are
more likely to need that time to take
care of a child or other family member.
Women take home less income, are less
likely to earn raises and promotions at
the same pace, earn fewer retirement
benefits, and accumulate lower lifetime
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The third annual Unions for Kids
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Buy-in is $50. Top three winners
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All proceeds from the tournament,
which is in association with the Union
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For more information or to register,
call Emmy at 503-254-0123.
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
wealth. [Yet...] two thirds of working
women are the primary or co-bread-
winners in their families. Pay inequality
impacts adults and children who de-
pend on women’s incomes.”
While the social injustice is more
than alarming enough, the economic
impacts should cause concern for
everyone across the broad spectrum of
political beliefs. When women are paid
less for equal or comparable work, it
brings overall household wages down.
And for single working mothers, that’s
a deep impact: About one-third of sin-
gle working mothers are living below
the poverty line.
The Oregon Council on Civil
Rights’ report points to several policy
changes Oregon could undertake to ad-
dress this issue, including:
begin working to develop “a set of rec-
ommendations that works for the busi-
ness community and the labor force.”
(Editor’s Note: Alina Harway is the
communications and research manager
for Our Oregon, a labor-backed non-
profit organization that promotes eco-
nomic and social fairness for all Ore-
gonians.)
If you get hurt at work
but don’t want to file a
claim, at least give the
employer notice that
you hurt yourself at
work. This will protect
your rights later should
you need to file a claim.
Paid Leave: Expanding paid sick
leave, creating a statewide paid family
leave insurance program, and support-
ing leave time for child-related activi-
ties;
Safe, affordable childcare: Ex-
panding employment-related day care
and extending tax credits for childcare;
Oregon Paycheck Fairness Act:
Providing protections against discrim-
ination and retaliation;
And others, including increasing
minimum wage.
Further, the council recommends,
Oregon should increase outreach, pub-
lic awareness, and partnerships with
employers and private sector leaders;
provide more educational and occupa-
tional opportunities; and provide em-
ployer incentives and workplace best
practices for women.
These recommendations have been
sent to Oregon Bureau of Labor and In-
dustries (BOLI) Commissioner Brad
Avakian, who is tasked with develop-
ing proposals to address the issues iden-
tified in the report. Avakian told the
Statesman Journal that no proposals
will be submitted in time for the 2014
legislative session, but that BOLI will
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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