End the Gender Pay Gap in 2015
Eversince women began entering the U.S. workforce in large numbers during World WarII, they have been paid less than their male ｃounterparts. What is more,occupations in which women predominate offer lower pay than in majority-maleprofessions.
Women earn a median wage of$706 per week in the U.S. today, while men earn $860. A 2012 study from theCenter for American Progress found thatthe average full-time working woman loses more than $430,000 over her lifetimecompared with the average full-time male worker.
Women have fought thisinjustice for a long time it was a major issue in the second wave of thefeminist movement in the 1970s and ’80s. And yet the gender pay gap persists.
The problem seems intractable.How can women, who continue to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over theirlifetimes, ever catch up? But with the possibility of a woman becomingpresident in the United States, some companies are taking steps to fix theirgender pay gaps. Coupled with a wave of grass-roots organizing for women’sequality, the renewed interest in economic justice issues affecting womensuggests that we may finally reach a tipping point in 2015.
A year of possibility
As Hillary Clinton rampsup her potential presidential campaign, advocates for women’s rights andlabor are seizing the chance to highlight the gender gap issue. Moreover, asTara Siegel Bernard recently reported in The New York Times, somecompanies are quietly and seriously overhauling their pay structures tofix the gender pay gap. Other companies are shepherding more women to the uppertiers of middle management and fixing discrepancies between men and women’s payfor equal work. In Boston, for example, 54 companies have signed onto a compact to make their base salariesand bonuses public and to report other job-related data that could affectwomen’s pay.
An employer opting to changeits workplace is a positive step in addressing the gender gap. Retrofittingcorporate structures could have a profound positive effect on middle-classfamilies and cause many women to earn hundreds of thousands more over theirlifetimes.
Women are leading campaignsby low-wage employees and domestic workers and support policies that offermajor benefits to female workers in the service industry. 2014 saw growing fastfood, warehouse, restaurant and other low-wage worker sectors organizing — andwinning — a higher minimum wage and paid sick days in many cities and statesacross the United States. These developments come on the heels of newrules from Barack Obama’sadministration requiring that federal contractors report more details on howthey pay men and women.
Despite these rumblings,however, making workplaces fair for women will require more than justaddressing pay inequity. It means promoting policies to make offices morefamily friendly. The U.S. still lags far behind other industrialized ｃountriesin implementing family-friendly policies that can boost women’s earning powerand create security for working families. Fortunately, advocates at the stateand local levels are now pushing practical measures through which we can catchup — and their efforts are worthy of support.
Campaignssuch as Family Values @Work, Jobs With Justice, OUR Walmart, the NationalDomestic Workers’ Alliance, and A Better Balance are leading the way in turningopportunity into results. They are calling for policies that seemed impossiblea few years ago but are both pragmatic and cost effective. In 2015 advocateshope to build on past successes around a series of family-friendly policies. Theseinclude:
Paid Family Leave: One landmark gain forfamilies came in 1992, when President Bill Clinton signed the Family and MedicalLeave Act, giving workers 12 weeks of protection from being fired while theytake time to care for an immediate family member who is ill. While a big stepforward, the law had serious loopholes. For example, those who needed tocare for family members such as siblings and grandparents weren’t covered.Advocates are now calling for expanded family leave policies that would buildon the gains from the Clinton years. In the last 10 years, advocates have wonvictories for paid family leave in three states: California, New Jersey andRhode Island. There are active campaigns for this law in New York, Washington State,Connecticut and New Hampshire.
Just Hours: Many hourly workers sufferunder unfair practices such as being scheduled to work on a moment’s notice andhaving their work hours cut when they arrive at the job. Just-hours policieswould ban such practices, ensuring that workers have at least two weeks’ noticeon their schedules and those who wish to move from part time into full time areable to do so. Receiving work schedules in advance allows working parents toschedule doctor appointments and attend community or school events they mightotherwise miss. In 2014 San Francisco passed a Retail Workers’ Bill of Rights, establishingjust hours for 40,000 chain store retail workers in that city. Buoyed bythis victory, advocates will be scouting other cities where such victories maybe possible in 2015.
Pregnant Worker Protection: Accommodations for pregnantworkers made headlines in 2014 with the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments inYoung v. UPS. In this case, the company refused to accommodate the temporaryphysical needs of a pregnant worker. Although the court will likely not rule onthe case until spring, grass-roots advocates have taken up this issue,aggressively shaming companies that refuse to accommodate pregnant employees.In response, retailers such as Walmart are coming up with their own pregnantworker accommodation policies. However, the voluntary policies they areimplementing often contain ambiguities. For example, pregnant workers may stillbe fired for trying to obey their doctors’ orders at work — even on directivesas simple as carrying a water bottle. Twelve states and five cities have passedlaws requiring some employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnantworkers. In 2015 groups such as the National Partnership for Women and Familieshope to close gaps in federal workplace protections to address the needs ofpregnant workers. They are urging Congress to pass the Pregnant Workers’Fairness Act to achieve this critical step.
The feminist movement of the1960s, ’70s and ’80s made huge strides in establishing the rightful role ofwomen in the workplace. Now that women are pursuing careers in numberscomparable with men, it is past time that we finish the work of making thosecareer paths truly equitable.
ArticleSource: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/1/gender-pay-gap-womenrightseconomicequality.html
ImageSource: http://www.womensagenda.com.au/images/stories/flexicontent/m_gender_gap_pay.jpg
VOCABULARYWORDS:
1. Counterpart(n.) ~ one of two parts that fit, complete or complement each other
2. Predominate(v.) ~ to be or have greater quantity or importance
3. Intractable(adj.) ~ difficult to manage, deal with, or change to an acceptable condition
4. Tippingpoint (n.) a critical moment in a complex situation in which a small influenceproduces a sudden large or irreversible change
5. Rampup (phrasal verb) ~ to increase in volume, amount, or rate
6. Overhaul(v.) ~ to examine thoroughly and repair
7. Retrofit(v.) ~ to outfit with newly developed or previously unavailable parts orequipment
8. Onthe heels (idiom) ~ directly behind
9. Loophole(n.) ~ an ambiguity, omission, etc. as in a law, by which one can avoid apenalty or responsibility
10.Buoy (v.) ~ to keep afloat
QUESTIONSFOR DISCUSSION:
1. Theresult of a recent survey in Korea says that the gender pay gap is the largest inbig private companies. What do you think is the reason for this?
2. Inyour opinion, should gender be a factor in determining the pay a person shouldreceive? Why?
3. Doesgender pay gap exist in government offices? Explain your answer.
