Are women paid less because they work part time more than men do? But it’s also about the principle of fairness.
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Are women paid less because they have more caregiving responsibilities?
And it’s just a broad overview of women’s pay based on the median annual earnings of all full-time, year-round workers.
In conjunction with this year’s “Equal Pay Day”, or the day it has been determined that women’s average earnings “catch up” to men’s earnings from the previous year, the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) released a report of suggested policy reforms to address the unique set of challenges now facing women in the workplace. There’s been progress: A women early in her career makes 90 cents on the dollar, according to the research, up from 68 cents on the dollar 35 years ago.
Equal Pay Day is a national symbolic event dramatizing how much longer it takes a woman to earn as much as a man.
A woman is more likely to be the stay-at-home parent than a man, Elias noted. What could be more crucial to a working, thriving state economy than providing fair and equitable pay to its citizens? In New England, Maine (21 cents) MA and Rhode Island (18 cents) and Vermont (16 cents), all had smaller gaps than New Hampshire when it comes to economic gender equality, according to the study. An unmistakable double standard. Or do they nod and smile and then promote the white guys?
Indeed, New Hampshire – despite its female governor and three females in its four-person congressional delegation – is among the 12 states nationally with the biggest pay disparity between the sexes – 24 cents on the dollar.
That means for for black women, Equal Pay Day falls months later, on August 23, while for Latinas it’s November 1, USA Today reported. And as I’ve said before, on this issue, women can’t afford to wait anymore.
And a wide gap still remains even when researchers control for location, hours worked, and varying roles.
“This analysis is a sobering reminder of the serious harm the wage gap causes women and families all across the country”, said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership. “We will also continue work to ensure that all of our employees have equal opportunity”. Many have a hard time feeding their kids, and around one in five American children is food-insecure.
Some states are perking up and taking notice of their constituents’ concerns about equal pay. Ethnic minorities were paid exactly the same as white employees, she said. Explains company’s lead data scientist, Jessica Kirkpatrick, “Very junior people tend to get recruited out of school, and more senior people get recruited by executive recruiting firms by companies willing to pay a premium for a C-level manager”.
Tuesday, April 12, is Equal Pay Day in the United States, symbolizing how far women have to work into 2016 to match what men earned in 2015. When a little girl gets called too aggressive or a know-it-all for raising her hand too much in class, that gives rise to yet another generation of women who will not demand what they deserve.
And it doesn’t get better as we get older. “We need to be talking to our allies”. This, despite the fact that elections, from the presidential race on down, will be decided by the nation’s largest voting bloc – women.
President Barack Obama also joined in bringing attention to Equal Pay Day – this time on social media.
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Patricia Arquette is an actress and activist.
