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What will it take to achieve economic gender equality in the US?
work has fallen since the year 2000, while
growing in almost all other affluent nations -
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
many of which provide free, public pre-school.
he first International Women’s Day,
Men are picking up more of the slack at
March, 8, pushed for women’s right to
home, but women are still charged with an
vote, as well as rights to work,
outsize share of unpaid work. On average,
vocational training and discrimination-free
women’s days, compared to men’s, include an
workplaces.
hour and a half a day more of housework and
Haven’t we won these battles? It’s the
taking care of family members, an hour less
21st century!
in paid work and 45 minutes less for leisure
No. The economic gap between women
activities.
Although 7 out of 10 women with children
and men is shockingly large in the U.S.
Women’s yearly incomes average less than
at home now work, twice as many women as
two-thirds of those of men. In other words,
men work part-time, which means low wages
the average American man’s income is more
and few benefits. Women are much more
than half again as much as the income of the
likely than men to take time out from work,
average American woman.
to care for young children, aging parents and
American families depend on women’s
ailing partners.
incomes, and would be better off if women ,
Unlike other countries, the U.S. barely
earned more. Women are the biggest or only
Subsidizes childcare and other forms of care,
breadwinner in 4 out of 10 households with
and it’s extremely expensive, despite the
kids.
very low wages of paid care workers.
What do you mean by ending the
What if we just look at full-time
College-educated pre-school teachers earn
devaluation of women and women’s
workers? Are you saying that women are
the least of any college major, even though
work?
still being discriminated against?
high quality, early childhood education is
Many people don’t realize that they sub
tremendously valuable, markedly improving
Yes, In fact, the World Economic Forum
consciously devalue work done by a woman
kids’ future earnings.
just reported that 65 other countries do
and the jobs that are most female-dominated.
Paid family leave keeps women connected
better at paying women equally with men
Famously, the number of women musicians
to their jobs, and their
doing similar work, though American women
hired increased dramatically after U.S.
wages up. The U.S.,
are the most equally educated.
symphonies started conducting “blind
Oman and Papua New
Among year-round, full-time workers,
auditions,” with the players screened so they
American women are paid four-fifths as much
Guinea are the only
Am ong year»ronxi<l, to ll-tim e
couldn’t be seen. Resumes with men’s names
as men, on average. That gap grows with age
three countries in the
are evaluated more positively than identical
workers, A m erican women
BY MARY C. KING
■
M ary C. K in g is a
professor o f economics
emerita with
Portland State
University
an d w ith m o re ed u catio n .
■ "W W B
and women of color. Of full-time workers,
white women are paid 83 cents to white
men’s $1, African-American women make 65
cents, and Latinas just 58 cents.
Mothers earn less than similar women
without children, docked a “motherhood
penally” for each child. And employers
assume that women of color have more
children than they do, while believing that
white women have fewer than they really do.
Women are also less likely to get overtime,
bonuses, good benefits and access to enough
hours, particularly in fields like retail.
What? The Equal Pay Act was passed
in 1963, more than 50 years ago! What’s
it going to take to achieve economic
gender equality in this country?
The three most important things to do are:
1. Raise wages in the lower rungs of the
extremely unequal U.S. labor market,
2. End the persistent social devaluation of
the work of individual women, and the jobs
and skills most associated with women, and
3. Provide high-quality, affordable care for
children, seniors and adults living with
disabilities.
How can we raise wages in the lower
rungs of the extremely unequal U.S.
labor market?
Oregon recently made progress on two
effective tactics: raising the minimum wage
and mandating paid sick days for all workers.
Other strategies that work elsewhere are
reducing barriers to unionization, requiring
that part-time work be paid at the same
hourly rate as full-time work, mandating more
regular schedules, creating more
apprenticeships, restoring vocational
education and enforcing equal employment
laws.
re s u m e s w ith w o m en ’s n am es, a s a re w ritin g
w orld w ith o u t n atio n al
sam ples/^
The skills in jobs dominated by women
tend to be overlooked or undervalued, as
compared with men’s jobs.
paid parental leave in
the formal sector. Half
of the world’s nations
pay for 14 weeks or
more.
Why don’t women go into better
paying fields?
Part of the pay gap is due to women being
socialized to enter lower-paying occupations
and industries. But women earn less than
men in all industries, almost all occupations,
at every level of education, and after
graduating with every college major.
Wages fall when more women go into a
field, as seen in pharmacy, journalism and
teaching. Harassment pushes women out of
some relatively well-paying, male-dominated
jobs, in the trades as well as in science,
engineering and computer programming.
Speaking of harassment, does violence
against women have an economic
impact?
Yes, the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services reported that stalking
victims lose 10 paid days of work a year, rape
victims eight days, and victims of intimate
partner violence seven days a year:
Abusers use economic strategies to
maintain their power, including forbidding
women to work or attend school; sabotaging
women at work; destroying women’s
property, such as cars and clothes; and
undermining women’s confidence in their
ability to earn a living. Three-quarters of
survivors of intimate partner abuse have
stayed in a violent relationship for economic
reasons.
Even the right wing American Enterprise
Institute says a “care chasm” keeps women
in the U.S. from working as much as in other
countries.
American women’s participation in paid
are oaisi. fe n r-iiiIk s ns
as men, ©a average. T hat
gap grows w ith age, and w ith
more education.
But women and
men are in families
together, so doesn’t it
all work out in the end?
Not really. Even straight couples are
vulnerable to divorce, desertion, death,
disability, unemployment, chronic illness,
alcoholism and domestic violence. And
plenty of women are single, or partnered
with other women. For couples including
people of color or immigrants, the gender
pay gap is added on top of earnings
differences by race, ethnicity and immigrant
status.
What’s more, pay differences and penalties
for caring really add up. Women workers earn
more than half a million dollars less over
their lifetimes than men do, from annual pay
differences over the years of just $10,000 or
so.
Women own a lot less wealth than men do.
Women are far less secure in old age,
receiving less in pensions and social security,
sometimes retiring early to care for parents
and spouses, and running down assets to pay
for partners’ end of life medical care.
Women’s poverty rates are much higher
than men s, particularly in old age and as
single parents. Forty percent of single
mothers’ households are poor, twice the
poverty rate of single fathers and more than
five times the rate of married couples with
kids.
And in a country where political influence
is measured in dollars, women’s views count
for a lot less.