Women and the Economy

Another Equal Pay Day without pay equity

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April 17, 2012
In Women and the Economy

Today is Equal Pay Day, a day that marks the wage gap between working women and men. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, each year Equal Pay Day falls on a Tuesday to illustrate how far into the work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week. Nationally, women are still paid 77 cents for each dollar earned annually by men – a gap of 23 cents.

Here in North Carolina, working women fare a little better, but not by much. North Carolina’s working women are still only earning 80.7 percent of men’s earnings.

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Uncategorized, Women and the Economy

Economic Insecurity Deepens for Women; Job Retention Policies are Crucial

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October 6, 2011
In Uncategorized, Women and the Economy

A recent report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows that Americans’ economic security is dwindling following the Great Recession, and that women and single mothers are reporting especially high rates of daily hardship.

Both women and men reported difficulties with paying for basic needs such as food, health care, housing, utilities, and transportation. Yet the survey responses, which are disaggregated by gender, show that the Recession has increased women’s economic vulnerability even more than men’s. As we have reported elsewhere, the persistence of the pay gap; the disproportionate, if small, share of the economic recovery that women have experienced; and the lack of realistic work-family policies are all factors in this story.

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Women and the Economy

Now is the time for realistic work-family balance policies

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August 26, 2011
1 Comment
In Women and the Economy

 

The AARP recently published a report finding that almost 1.2 million North Carolinians cared for an adult family member, partner, or friend suffering from chronic illness in 2009. The report also found that nearly two-thirds of caregivers are women and that the majority of these women worked at least part-time on top of the unpaid work of caring for their loved ones.

The struggle to manage a caregiving role in addition to a part- or full-time job is nothing new to many women. Nor are the challenges that persist when mothers balance family and work responsibilities. Unfortunately, women with family responsibilities have long navigated workplaces that ignore today’s family structures and responsibilities.

The demographics of our workforce have completely changed in the last century with women’s increased labor force participation and at the same time the definition of family has fortunately evolved to include single parents and same-sex couples.  Many workplace policies, however, are still based on the concept of a male breadwinner and assume that there is a stay-at-home wife to take care of family responsibilities. Read more

Women and the Economy

Pay gap persists despite earning and education gains by women

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August 24, 2011
1 Comment
In Women and the Economy

Median earnings for women have increased over the past four decades as a percent of male median earnings.  In 1980, women in North Carolina earned just 70 cents for every $1 earned by a man.  By 2010 that figure had increased to 85 cents for every $1.

Despite these gains in earnings for women, significant disparities in pay remain.  National research by Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce found that when looking at lifetime earnings, women with a PhD make as much as men with the BA.  In North Carolina a woman with a graduate or professional degree earns less than a man with a B.A.  Men with some college but no degree earn about the same as women with a B.A.

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