Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Equal Pay Day -- Still Nothing to Celebrate
Reminding us that Equal Pay remains an elusive goal, the Institute for Women's Policy Research released excellent data and analysis of the persistent gender wage gap. Sadly, women continue to earn less than men across the board: whether they are employed in traditionally female occupations or in traditionally male ones, women earn less than men in the same jobs: women surgeons, women housekeepers, and women salespersons, for example, all earn less than men doing the same job. Women also earn less than men in comparable, though not identical jobs, if those jobs are populated mostly by men. In the labor market as a whole, women in general earn less than men.
According to IWPR: "The ten most common occupations for women employ 28.8 percent of all female full-time workers. Median weekly earnings for women range from $1,039 for ‘registered nurses’ to $427 for ‘nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides’ (Table 1). Women earn less than men in each of these occupations; the gender wage ratio ranges from 74.9 percent for ‘accountants and auditors’ to 95.4 percent for ‘customer service representatives.’... For men, the ten most common occupations employ 20.0 percent of all male full-time workers. Median weekly earnings for men range from $2,217 for ‘chief executives’ and $1,590 for ‘computer software engineers’ to $508 for ‘laborers and freight, stock, and material movers’ (Table 1). Women earn less than men in each of these occupations (although there are too few women ‘construction laborers’ to calculate a gender wage ratio there)." http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/the-gender-wage-gap-by-occupation-updated-april-2011/
It's pretty embarrassing that 47 years after the nation pledged itself to pay women equally in the Equal Pay Act of 1963, work continues to be devalued if it is performed by women. Lower earnings for women mean disproportionate economic insecurity and poverty for women. So on this Equal Pay Day we should demand heightened governmental commitment to achieving equal or comparable pay in and between jobs. Along with this, we need government to strengthen, not undermine, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security -- and all other programs that help women and their families survive despite a lifetime of unequal, low wages.
According to IWPR: "The ten most common occupations for women employ 28.8 percent of all female full-time workers. Median weekly earnings for women range from $1,039 for ‘registered nurses’ to $427 for ‘nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides’ (Table 1). Women earn less than men in each of these occupations; the gender wage ratio ranges from 74.9 percent for ‘accountants and auditors’ to 95.4 percent for ‘customer service representatives.’... For men, the ten most common occupations employ 20.0 percent of all male full-time workers. Median weekly earnings for men range from $2,217 for ‘chief executives’ and $1,590 for ‘computer software engineers’ to $508 for ‘laborers and freight, stock, and material movers’ (Table 1). Women earn less than men in each of these occupations (although there are too few women ‘construction laborers’ to calculate a gender wage ratio there)." http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/the-gender-wage-gap-by-occupation-updated-april-2011/
It's pretty embarrassing that 47 years after the nation pledged itself to pay women equally in the Equal Pay Act of 1963, work continues to be devalued if it is performed by women. Lower earnings for women mean disproportionate economic insecurity and poverty for women. So on this Equal Pay Day we should demand heightened governmental commitment to achieving equal or comparable pay in and between jobs. Along with this, we need government to strengthen, not undermine, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security -- and all other programs that help women and their families survive despite a lifetime of unequal, low wages.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Why Aren't Americans Giving More to Help the Victims in Japan?
So far, Americans have donated only 20% of what they gave for disaster relief in Haiti and less than 10% of what they gave after 9/11.
Both wingnuts and some in the mainstream media mock the Japanese with totalizing caricatures of Japanese culture -- and so douse our generosity and compassion. Whatever you think of the Japanese government or of General Electric (the designer of the Fukushima nuclear campus), the Japanese people are our brothers and sisters.
Please help the victims of this devastating, concatenating, unending disaster!
Here are some ways to give: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/how-to-help-japan-earthquake-relief_n_834484.html?ref=fb&src=sp
Both wingnuts and some in the mainstream media mock the Japanese with totalizing caricatures of Japanese culture -- and so douse our generosity and compassion. Whatever you think of the Japanese government or of General Electric (the designer of the Fukushima nuclear campus), the Japanese people are our brothers and sisters.
Please help the victims of this devastating, concatenating, unending disaster!
Here are some ways to give: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/how-to-help-japan-earthquake-relief_n_834484.html?ref=fb&src=sp
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Racial Blame Game | Immigration Policy Center
The Immigration Policy Center lays out important data dispelling claims that immigrants "take away American jobs" or lower wages in the US labor market here:
The Racial Blame Game | Immigration Policy Center
The Racial Blame Game | Immigration Policy Center
Impact of FY2012 Budget Proposals.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Thanks to the Women of Color Policy Network, a very helpful summary review of budget cut proposals that will disproportionately harm women of color and their communities can be found here:
2011.PolicyBriefImpactofFY2012BudgetProposals.pdf (application/pdf Object)
2011.PolicyBriefImpactofFY2012BudgetProposals.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Friday, February 25, 2011
It's the Inequality, Stupid | Mother Jones
It's the Inequality, Stupid | Mother Jones
"A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244." ...
"A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244." ...
Friday, February 18, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Obama Sends Mom's Beloved Program to the Gallows
Among the many social programs the Obama FY 2012 Budget targets for elimination is the Women's Educational Equity Act. This program historically has been underfunded -- and some years it has received no funding at all. But it has remained on the books and as such has expressed the federal government's commitment to promoting gender equity in education. In his 2012 budget, the President puts this program in the termination column. This cut stings -- the savings it earns is a paltry $2 million, so it feels more like a slap in women's faces than a tough decision in favor of deficit reduction.
The fate Obama has assigned Women's Educational Equity also stings because my mother, the late Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink (D-Hawaii), was the original sponsor of WEEA in 1974 and fought for it throughout her years in Congress. Her last effort to secure funding for WEEA was in 2001, a year before her death, when she fought for WEEA reauthorization in the No Child Left Behind Act. If I recall correctly, WEEA was reauthorized in No Child Left Behind, but was zero-budgeted. In any case, WEEA has been funded since 2001 -- though always at levels far below its programmatic promise.
What my mother loved about WEEA was that it put government in a positive role, nurturing and supporting efforts at all levels of education to improve the educational context for women and girls. In contrast, Title IX, enacted in 1972 and named after my mother after her death in 2002, is a regulatory measure which promotes gender equality by prohibiting discriminatory practices. The two legislative innovations go hand in hand. Title IX requires educational institutions to avoid and remedy discrimination. WEEA gives educational innovators tools to eliminate cultural and ideological barriers (such as sex stereotyping in classroom materials and curricula) to the full participation of girls and women in educational processes while also encouraging programs that advance the incorporation of girls and women into fields that historically have excluded them -- math, science, and engineering, for example.
White House documents that accompany the 2012 Budget state that WEEA objectives will be advanced in other programs. I hope that's true. But in my cursory reading of the itemized Department of Education budget, the word "women" appears only once -- with reference to terminating WEEA.
While the Budget saves a whopping $2 million by killing WEEA, notice that it wastes more federal money on Abstinence Education ($50 million) and on promoting marriage and fatherhood ($150 million).
The fate Obama has assigned Women's Educational Equity also stings because my mother, the late Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink (D-Hawaii), was the original sponsor of WEEA in 1974 and fought for it throughout her years in Congress. Her last effort to secure funding for WEEA was in 2001, a year before her death, when she fought for WEEA reauthorization in the No Child Left Behind Act. If I recall correctly, WEEA was reauthorized in No Child Left Behind, but was zero-budgeted. In any case, WEEA has been funded since 2001 -- though always at levels far below its programmatic promise.
What my mother loved about WEEA was that it put government in a positive role, nurturing and supporting efforts at all levels of education to improve the educational context for women and girls. In contrast, Title IX, enacted in 1972 and named after my mother after her death in 2002, is a regulatory measure which promotes gender equality by prohibiting discriminatory practices. The two legislative innovations go hand in hand. Title IX requires educational institutions to avoid and remedy discrimination. WEEA gives educational innovators tools to eliminate cultural and ideological barriers (such as sex stereotyping in classroom materials and curricula) to the full participation of girls and women in educational processes while also encouraging programs that advance the incorporation of girls and women into fields that historically have excluded them -- math, science, and engineering, for example.
White House documents that accompany the 2012 Budget state that WEEA objectives will be advanced in other programs. I hope that's true. But in my cursory reading of the itemized Department of Education budget, the word "women" appears only once -- with reference to terminating WEEA.
While the Budget saves a whopping $2 million by killing WEEA, notice that it wastes more federal money on Abstinence Education ($50 million) and on promoting marriage and fatherhood ($150 million).
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