Why U.S. women earn so little money: The wage gap isn’t getting any better
ELLEN BRAVO
Women pressers on strike for higher wages. PHOTO/Flickr/Kheel Center/Creative Commons license.
The best researchers in the United States gathered recently to solve a long-standing puzzle: why women in the richest country in the world earn so little money. Using sophisticated multiple regression analyses and other scientific tools, the researchers finally came up with the answer.
Women earn so little money because… their employers pay them so little money. Why do employers do this? Because they can, and often because they think they have to in order to compete.
The Big Boys, those who control power and wealth, will tell you that women’s pay in the U.S. is doing just fine. The gap is narrowing, they proclaim! It’s practically disappeared for young women starting out! Women are faring better than men during this economic downturn! And to the extent that a wage gap exists at all, it’s because of choices women make (trading income for flexibility, opting out of high-paying, high-pressure jobs) or deficiencies they possess (lack of negotiating skills).
Neat little trick, putting it back on women. Problem is, none of it works.
Take the narrowing of the wage gap. Today women overall in the U.S. earn 77 cents for every dollar men make; African-American women earn 72 cents, Latinas 60 cents. That is better than the 59 cents ratio of the late sixties. But half the narrowing of the gap comes from loss of pay for men, particularly men of color. This is hardly what women had in mind by equality. What’s more, the gap is greatest for women with the most education working the longest hours. And the mommy wage gap – the difference between what mothers earn and the pay of everyone else – continues to increase.
Women’s International Perspective for more
Equal pay UK: Why some are paid more than others
by MEGHAN LEWIS
Northumberland craftivist Kate Rowley patch. PHOTO/Flickr/craftivist collective/Creative Commons License.
In the same week that Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Editor for the National Review, said that “The pay gap is exaggerated, discrimination doesn’t drive it and it’s not clear that government can eliminate it – or should even try,” a friend of mine found out that she was being paid less than her male colleague who did exactly the same job.
The Fawcett Society recognises Wednesday, Nov. 7 as Equal Pay Dayin the UK. The group states that “this day marks the point in the year when women in effect start ‘working for nothing’ compared to men.” At a time when women’s unemployment is at a 24-year high and many women are being forced into low-paying and insecure employment, this campaign serves as a timely reminder that women are still institutionally and routinely being paid less to do the same work as men.
The UK Parliament’s Equal Pay Act 1970 makes it illegal to pay women less than men for the same work, and there is a widespread belief that this legislation has eliminated unequal pay. Yet this is far from the truth. Over forty years after this legislation was introduced, women in the UK are still paid on average 20 percent less than their male counterparts.
While the practice is widely publicised in the finance sector, where men are paid up to 55 percent more than women, many still believe that women working in charities are getting a fairer deal. Research from Third Sector Research Centre in 2010 found that while the pay gap is less extreme, women employed in the third sector are still paid on average 16 percent less than their male colleagues.
Experts believe there are a variety of reasons why women are paid less than men. Outdated gender norms undervalue women in the workplace. The Fawcett Society points out that jobs traditionally carried out by women, such as catering, cleaning and caretaking, have lower wages than construction and transportation, jobs traditionally carried out by men.
International Women’s Perspective for more